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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38206-8.txt b/38206-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f66dd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/38206-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10124 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Boy of the Dominion, by F. S. Brereton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Boy of the Dominion + A Tale of Canadian Immigration + +Author: F. S. Brereton + +Illustrator: William Rainey + +Release Date: December 3, 2011 [EBook #38206] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOY OF THE DOMINION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: HIS FINGERS HIT UPON THE MUZZLE OF THE WEAPON _Page 343_] + + + + + +A + +Boy of the Dominion + + +A Tale of Canadian Immigration + + + +BY + +LT.-COLONEL F. S. BRERETON + +Author of "Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout" "With Shield and Assegai" &c. + + + +_ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I._ + + + +BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED + +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + +1913 + + + + +_Printed in Great Britain by_ + +_Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + + + +BY LT.-COLONEL BRERETON + + +"F. S. Brereton is a famous hand with adventures of every +sort."--_Morning Post_. + + + + Colin the Scout: A Tale of Adventure Abroad. + On the Field of Waterloo. + With French at the Front: A Story of the Great European War + down to the Battle of the Aisne. + With Joffre at Verdun: A Story of the Western Front. + Under Foch's Command: A Tale of the Americans in France. + With the Allies to the Rhine: A Story of the Finish of the War. + With Allenby in Palestine: A Story of the Latest Crusade. + Under French's Command: A Story of the Western Front from + Neuve Chapelle to Loos. + The Great Airship: A Tale of Adventure. + From the Nile to the Tigris: A Story of Campaigning from + Western Egypt to Mesopotamia. + A Boy of the Dominion: A Tale of Canadian Immigration. + Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia. + A Sturdy Young Canadian: A Story of Modern Canada. + John Bargreave's Gold: A Tale of the Caribbean. + How Canada was Won: A Tale of Wolfe and Quebec. + Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout. + Roger the Bold: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico. + Indian and Scout. + The Rough Riders of the Pampas. + In the King's Service: A Tale of Cromwell's Invasion of Ireland. + With Shield and Assegai: A Tale of the Zulu War. + With Rifle and Bayonet: A Tale of the Boer War. + The Dragon of Pekin: A Tale of the Boxer Revolt. + One of the Fighting Scouts: A Tale of Guerilla Warfare in + South Africa. + A Knight of St. John: A Tale of the Siege of Malta. + The Great Aeroplane. + +LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. + + + + +Contents + +CHAP. + + I. Finding a Profession + II. An Ocean Voyage + III. Volunteers called for + IV. Joe Gathers Credit + V. One of the Settlers + VI. A Canadian Bad Man + VII. Into the Backwoods + VIII. Hank makes his Appearance + IX. Lost in the Forest + X. A Hand-to-hand Encounter + XI. Investing Hard-Earned Dollars + XII. The Canadian Winter + XIII. A Co-operative Proposition + XIV. Moose Hunting + XV. Pursued by Unknown Enemies + XVI. Choosing a Fortress + XVII. Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded + XVIII. On the Defensive + XIX. Across the Snows for Safety + XX. Back to the Farm + + + + +Illustrations + + +His Fingers hit upon the Muzzle of the Weapon . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Joe Attacks the Fire at Close Quarters + +Peter and Jack Bailey find Joe Unconscious + +Joe Surprises Hurley + +The Moose charged Madly + +A Defence against Odds + + + + + +A BOY OF THE DOMINION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Finding a Profession + +It was just past ten o'clock on a chilly morning in the early spring +when Joe Bradley emerged from the shop door of the little house which +had been his father's, and stepped, as it were, abruptly into life. +The banging of the door and the turning of the key were a species of +signal to him, as if to warn him that the past, however fair or foul it +may have been, was done with, and that the future alone stared him in +the face. + +"There it is," he said, somewhat sadly, handing the key to a man who +accompanied him. "You've paid me the money, and have arranged about +your lease. The business is yours." + +"And you can wish me success," came the answer. "Hope I'll do better +than your father." + +"I hope it, with all my heart," said Joe, his lip a little tremulous. +"Goodbye! Good luck!" + +He could hardly trust himself to say even that; for Joe was but +seventeen years of age, and changes are apt to prove trying to one so +youthful. Moreover, there are few, fortunately, who at the age of +seventeen find themselves face to face with the future all alone. + +Joe pulled the collar of his overcoat up over his ears, for the wind +was keen and cutting, and thrust his hands deep into his trouser +pockets. For a little while he watched the retreating figure of the +man to whom he had sold his father's business, and then glanced +aimlessly up and down the single street of which this little northern +town boasted. Let us declare at once that hesitation was not a feature +of Joe's character; but there was an excuse for such a display on this +cold morning. For, as we have just said, when he stepped out of his +shop he, as it were, stepped into this big world; he cut himself adrift +from the past and all its pleasant memories, and faced the wide future. + +"What to do, that's the knotty question? Can't stay here, that's quite +certain. Then where do I go? It's a corker!" + +If one puts oneself in the place of Joe Bradley for a few moments, +thoroughly understanding his position, it will be admitted that there +was good cause for hesitation, and that a dilemma such as he found +himself in would puzzle anyone, and even one gifted with greater age +and discretion. For beyond the fair education which he had contrived +to pick up, and some knowledge of mechanics and cycle fitting, Joe +could boast of no special training; in any case, he knew of nothing in +this little northern town which could give him employment. + +"I've simply got to move away--only where, that's the question," he +repeated to himself for perhaps the fiftieth time that day. "I've +sixty pounds in my pocket. That's my capital. If I do nothing I live +on that money, and the day draws nearer and nearer when I must work or +starve; so work is the thing I want. Exactly so--work. What work? +Where?" + +He pursed his lips up and whistled--a little habit of his--then he +looked up and down the street again, his brows furrowed, evidently +thinking deeply. And while he stands there before the cycle shop which +had been in his father's possession, we may as well take advantage of +his indecision to take a careful look at Joe. + +Seventeen he called himself, and the face was that of a lad of about +that age, though perhaps, if anything, just a trifle too serious for +one so young. But it was unlined, save for the wrinkles which were now +upon his brow while he was thinking. It was a frank, open face, and +when one caught him smiling, which in other days was often enough, +there was something particularly taking about Joe Bradley. Indeed, he +was a gay, light-hearted fellow, just the one, in fact, who, finding +his fortunes suddenly darkened, might very likely mope and pine and +suffer from a severe attack of the blues. But Joe had too much +character for that. The shrill whistle he had given broke into a +jaunty tune, while he plunged his hands even deeper into his pockets. +No, there was no sign of the blues about him, but merely a show of +anxiety clearly reflected on a face which bade fair, one of these days, +to be handsome. There was grit, too, about Joe's features; there was +budding firmness about the jaw and lips, while the eyes belonged to one +who could look friend or foe in the face without flinching. Otherwise +he was rather tall for his age, squarely built, and decidedly active. + +"Hallo!" called someone to him, and swinging round Joe found himself +facing the doctor's assistant. + +"Hallo!" he responded, smiling. + +"Where away?" came the question, while the doctor arrested his bicycle +and balanced it with one foot on either side. + +"That's just it," said Joe, looking serious. "I was just asking myself +the same thing. It's a conundrum." + +"A conundrum, eh? Don't understand, Joe." + +"Then it's like this," explained our young friend, while the doctor +regarded him closely. "I've just handed over the key of the shop to +Mr. Perkins. He's paid me sixty pounds for the business as a going +concern. So I'm out of work and homeless. I'm just wondering what to +do and where to go. I've sent my box to the station, but exactly in +which direction I shall travel is a toss up." + +"In fact, you've the world before you, and find it hard to say which +part shall be honoured with your presence," smiled the doctor. "Well, +Joe, one thing's certain--this place is no good to you. You'd collect +dust here, and that's no good to anyone. Make for London, +or--George!--why shouldn't you--why not emigrate?" + +"Emigrate?" + +"Yes; go to Canada or Australia. Strike out a line for yourself. +There are thousands who are doing it--thousands who haven't got so much +as sixty shillings in their pockets. Think it over." + +"I will," declared Joe, his eyes shining. + +"Then come and see me to-night and we'll have a talk. Must move along +now; I've a patient to visit." + +The doctor was off within a few seconds, leaving Joe still standing +outside the shop so recently vacated, still with his ears well within +his collar and his hands deep in his pockets. But there was a new +expression on his face, while the eyes were distinctly brighter. For +here was a suggestion; here was a way out of the dilemma which for the +past three weeks had faced him. Till then he had hardly known the +meaning of the word trouble. He had been content to work in the cycle +shop with his father. But the latter's sudden death, the necessity to +sell the business and move away had thrown our young friend into a +whirl that was bewildering. And this suggestion that he should +emigrate was the first solid one that had been made to him. + +"Why not?" he asked himself. "Others have done so. Of course I could, +if I liked, take the other course Father points out to me. Supposing I +were to open the letter?" + +He withdrew one hand from his trouser pocket and plunged it into an +inner one. When he brought it into the light again there was a long +sealed envelope between his fingers. Joe turned it round and read some +writing on it carefully. + +"To my son, Joe Bradley," he read. "The contents of this letter will +explain to you many things which I have never cared to refer to. But I +beg of you never to open it till you are in direst need, or have earned +the right to do so. Make your way in the world; gather riches. Then +you can open and read." + +"Make your way in the world and then open. I will," declared Joe +aloud, forgetful of his surroundings. + +"Will what? Eh? You ain't ill, Joe?" asked a man who had approached +from between the houses. In fact, he had suddenly emerged from an +alleyway that cut in between the shop which Joe had so recently vacated +and the next one, belonging to the nearest grocer. Swinging round, our +young friend found himself face to face with the local constable. A +huge, hairy face was grinning at him from beneath an absurdly small +helmet. + +"Will what?" demanded the constable, his smile broadening till he +showed an uneven array of teeth, from the centre of the upper row of +which one was missing. Joe's eyes were attracted by the gap, and in a +flash he remembered that Constable Near had come by the injury during a +contest with some poachers. "Will what?" demanded the hairy fellow +again. "It's a queer thing to hear a young fellow saying as you spring +out upon him. There was you, Mister Joe, standing all alone, +wool-gathering I should reckon, and holding out a paper before you. 'I +will!' you cries, as if you was gettin' married. What's it all about?" + +Joe told him crisply. "I'm wondering what on earth to do with myself," +he said. "Doctor Tanner suggests emigrating." + +"And why not?" exclaimed the constable. "Why not, me lad? If I was +young again, same as you, I'd go. Don't you make no error, I'd hook it +termorrer. And I'll tell yer fer why--this country's too full of +people. Out there, in Canidy, there's room for me and you, and +thousands like us. There's free grants of land to be had; there's +labour fer all, and good wages." + +"And no failures?" asked Joe shrewdly. + +"In course there's failures. In course there's people too tired to +work when they do get out, and there's others taken in and robbed by +those who should know better; but there's success fer most, Mister Joe. +There's better than that; there's indipendence--indipendence, me lad! +For two twos I'd sell up and be going. Now look you here, come along +to the station, where I'll show you a few figures." + +Here was a treasure; Joe snatched at the opportunity, and accompanied +his old friend the constable to his own cosy little cottage. Nor was +he there for long before he learned that it was possible to obtain an +assisted passage to Canada, with the definite promise of work on +landing. Moreover, with the money he had he could easily pay his way +and still have enough to make him independent when he arrived. + +"You jest think it all over," said Constable Near, when he had shown +Joe various papers. "You're young enough, and supposing you don't like +Canada, why, you could go along on to Australia. But like it you will; +I've heard tell of it often." + +"Then I'll go into the matter," Joe answered. "If I want more +particulars I'll call in again. Thanks, constable; I already feel that +I have fewer difficulties." + +It was with a lighter and a brisker step that he emerged into the +street again. Cramming his hat down on his head, Joe tucked his collar +about his ears again--for it was very cold outside--and went striding +off towards the country. + +"Can't think in this town," he told himself. "I always get back to the +shop, as it were, thinking of Father and of his letter. That letter's +a temptation to me. I won't open it; I swear I'll make my way before I +venture to break the seals. Now about Canada--or shall it be +Australia?" + +It was a sensible idea of Joe's to clear out of the town and all its +old associations. For, recollect, he was young, and almost up till +that moment had had a father to refer to in all his youthful +difficulties. But Mr. Bradley, never a very robust man, had died +somewhat suddenly some three weeks earlier, and Joe was now an orphan. +As to his parentage, he was even then somewhat vague. His mother he +had never known. She was not even a memory to him, having died shortly +after his birth. Of his father he knew little more. Obviously he was +one who had been born to better things than a cycle shop. There were +many in this northern town who wagged their heads when speaking of Mr. +Bradley, and the doctor, a shrewd judge of character and of men, had +long ago decided the point; only, being a discreet fellow, had +mentioned it to none other than his wife. + +"There's something about that Mr. Bradley that bothers me, my dear," he +had said. "He's a gentleman through and through, while his personal +appearance, his reserve, and his manners generally proclaim that he has +seen better days. He never grumbles; but I know there is a history +behind his reserve. The boy takes after him, too; he keeps much to +himself, and is obviously superior to boys of a similar station." + +That was the general opinion of the keeper of the cycle shop, and +seeing that Mr. Bradley gave himself no airs, and was always pleasant +to all and sundry, he was, in his quiet, retiring way, a popular +character in the town. His death had been followed by the usual +gossip. Then a buyer for the business had speedily turned up, and with +his help and that of a local solicitor Joe had had no difficulty in +settling all his affairs and in paying all debts. As we have said, +here he was with sixty pounds in his pocket, good health, good temper, +and good appearance, and the world before him. But he had no fixed +purpose in life. He was like the man who enters upon business without +a plan of action; like the general without a settled scheme of +campaign, and likely enough to expend his whole strength in useless and +profitless skirmishes. Joe, without a plan to work with, was certain +to see his little fortune slip from between his fingers before he found +remunerative work. + +"Must get out of the place and think," he told himself. "Here's for a +sharp walk." + +Head buried in his collar still, and hands deep in his pockets, he went +striding away into the country, nodding to those acquaintances who gave +him good day. It was a little later when he heard in the far distance +the echo of a motor horn. + +"Big car," he told himself, for his father had dabbled in motor-car +repairs, and Joe had learned more than a smattering of those useful and +wonderful machines. "Coming along fast, too. Fellow's in a hurry. +They'd better pull up soon, for the corner yonder is a sharp one, and +there are cattle on the road." + +His eyes followed the long greasy ribbon ahead, winding in between the +hedges till it was cut off at an abrupt angle where the road doubled +almost upon itself. The corner was, in fact, one similar to those to +be found so often in England, perhaps a relic of the early days when +roads were first constructed, and some selfish owner declined to allow +their passage, save and except they passed round the confines of his +property. Whatever the reason, here was a greasy strip of macadam +doubling upon itself, with a herd of cattle ambling aimlessly along it. +Boom! The horn sounded again, while the whirr of machinery died down a +trifle. + +"Driver has seen the triangle marking a dangerous corner and is +slowing," Joe told himself. "He'll have a surprise when he gets round; +it'll be a case of brakes hard on." + +Boom! Boom! The car was up to the corner. It came shooting round, +not necessarily at too fast a pace; for your modern, low-hung car can +legitimately attack curves at a speed of twenty or more miles an hour. +But the careful driver allows for the unexpected. Wagons are to be +discovered often enough at a corner, and invariably on the wrong side +of the road. Pedestrians, gifted with wonderfully thick heads and, one +suspects, with a degree often enough of stupid obstinacy, insist on +adhering to the centre of the road. Yes, there are often unexpected +obstacles, and here there were cattle. Round the car came--a big red +one--its glass wind shield flashing in the light. Burr! Screech! The +brakes went on instantly, and the scream of metal came to Joe's ear. + +"Old car," he told himself again, with the air of one who has had +experience. "New cars don't make a sound with their brakes. My! He's +put 'em on hard; he'll skid if he isn't careful." + +He just had time to observe the fact that there was a single individual +in the car, seated in the driving seat, and then what any experienced +motorist might anticipate happened. The car skidded; its nose shot to +one side, and Joe got a glimpse of it broadside. Then it swung round +again, slued across to the side of the road, turned completely till its +back passed before his eyes and was again replaced by the front. +Whereupon, with irresistible impulse behind it, it charged the bank, +ran up it and turned over with a thud, coming to a stop within ten feet +of the nearest beast, with its four wheels still spinning. Joe jammed +his hat firmly on to his head and raced towards the scene of the +accident. + +"Chap killed, I expect," he said. "Anyway, he's under the car. I saw +it come down over him; beastly place that corner! Besides, the fellow +was going too fast. His own fault; inexperienced, perhaps." + +It took him a matter of three minutes to reach the scene of the upset, +when he found the drover gazing at the upturned car as if spellbound, +his mouth wide open, his small store of intelligence utterly gone. + +"Drive the cattle into that field and then give me a hand," cried Joe, +seeing that he must give a lead. "Quick with it! The driver is under +the car, and we must get him out. Don't stand gaping, man! Bustle! +Bustle!" + +He pointed to a gate near at hand giving entrance to a grass field, and +ran on to the car. The wheels were still spinning, at least those in +front were, while the back ones had come to a rest. A man's cloth cap +was lying just outside the car, while the lifting trap, which often +enough is fitted to the floor of the back part of cars, had swung +downward. Joe leaned over, thrust his head through the opening, and +peered beneath the car. There was a man's arm just beneath him, and +farther along he could see the rest of the unfortunate fellow's body. + +"Hallo!" he called. "Hurt?" + +A groan answered him. He heard the late driver of the car gasping, +then he was answered in a weak voice, the words interrupted by gasps. + +"Wind knocked clean out of me," he heard. "Can't move; I'm pinned down +by the top of the front seat. Get the car off me." + +Joe moved rapidly; slowness was not one of his failings. He vaulted to +the other side of the car and peered beneath it; then he lifted his +head and gazed around. + +"Hallo!" he called again, going to the opening he had used before. +"Where's the jack? Can I get at it?" + +"Back of the car," came the gasping answer. "Don't be long. I can +scarcely breathe; the whole weight of the thing seems to be on my +chest." + +Joe raced to the back of the upturned car, wrenched at the brass handle +which operated the lock of the cupboard usually to be found there, and, +tearing the door open, discovered a jumbled mass of rags, spare motor +parts, an inflator pump, and a lifting jack. He whipped the latter out +in the space of a few seconds, and darting round to the side of the +car, looked shrewdly at it. Then, careless of the damage he might do +to the coachwork, he placed the jack beneath the lowest edge, pushed it +into position and rapidly worked the lever which operated it. Slowly +he managed to raise the side of the car a matter of some three inches. + +"How's that?" he called. + +"Better," came the answer, in what seemed to be a tone of relief. +"There's not so much pressure on me now. But I'm pinned fast; I think +my trousers are under the other side. What'll you do?" + +"Leave it to me," called Joe. "I'll not go away till you are released. +Still the car is a heavy one, and there are only two of us here. I've +told the drover to put his cattle into the field near by and then come +and help. Stay still, or you may jerk that jack out of place. I'll +get hold of the drover, and we'll see what can be done." + +"Be he killed, maister?" he heard, as he lifted his head. "He were +coming that tremendous fast, that I knew he'd smash. I hollered; but +it warn't no sort o' good. He just come round like a rocket." + +"He's alive, but pinned down by the car," Joe explained. "We must have +something to use as a lever. Look for a strong rail." + +They went together along the hedge seeking for something to suit their +purpose, and presently came upon two lengths of timber beside a stack +of hay. Joe led the way back to the car, running as fast as he could. + +"Now, we want something to use as a point for our levers," he said. "A +pile of bricks would be best, but there are none hereabouts." + +"How'll stones do?" asked the countryman, his mouth still agape. +"There be plenty jest here." + +Close to the gate there were quite a number of squared blocks which had +probably at one time been built as a support for the gate post. Joe +seized upon one, while the lusty drover brought a couple. + +"Now, let's consider the matter," said Joe. "With these long poles we +shall be able to lever the car up; but that isn't enough. We want to +turn her clean over. We want a rope." + +The driver had that, for a wonder. "I be one of those careful sort," +he explained, with a giggle. "Most times there ain't no need fer a +rope. But still I carries one, 'cos you never do know, now do yer? I +carries one in case there's a fretful beast. And here it is." + +Joe already had his plans made. There was a tree on the opposite side +of the road, within five yards of the upturned car. He took the rope +and made it fast to the far edge of the car. Then he carried the other +end to the tree, passed a loop round it, and beckoned to the countryman. + +"Hold on," he said. "As I lever the car up, take in the slack and hold +fast. Mind you don't bungle, or that poor chap may be killed." + +A minute later he had his long lever in position, with the end well +beneath the edge of the car, and a pile of stones some fifteen inches +from the point of leverage. With such a pole as he had--for it was +fourteen feet long, perhaps--he had now tremendous power, and firm +pressure at the end first caused the pole to bend, and then lifted the +car with ease. + +"Hold on!" he shouted, and, obedient to the word, the drover hauled in +the slack of his rope. "Again! Once more! Now stand fast; that's +enough for the moment." + +By dint of careful effort Joe had now raised the edge of the car a +matter of two feet, and having built his stone fulcrum still higher, he +soon had the space beneath even greater. Waiting to see that the +drover had firm hold of his rope, he then dropped his lever, and, +stepping under the car, dragged the imprisoned driver out. + +"Much damage?" he asked. + +"Shaken, that's all. Nothing broken, I believe. I've been feeling +myself all over. Arms all right, you see; legs ditto. Chest, er--yes. +No ribs broken, I imagine, though I feel as if I had been under a steam +roller. You're a fine fellow; I owe you a heap." + +"Then you rest there for a little," said Joe, dragging him to the +hedge, and well out of harm's way. "We'll turn the car right side up +if we're able." + +It was fortunate that at that moment two men came along the road in a +trap. Dismounting, they assisted in the work, and very soon the car +was righted, coming down on to her four wheels with a bump which might +have been expected to shake the engine out of her. But no harm was +done; beyond badly-bent mud guards, there seemed to be no damage. Even +the steering gear was unharmed. Joe busied himself with the engine, +threw the gear lever into neutral, and soon had the motor running. + +"I'll take you along to the doctor," he said, going to the damaged +stranger. "Like to come?" + +"You can drive? Got a licence?" came the questions--and then, as Joe +nodded--"Right! Here's something for the men who helped; please thank +them for me." + +Two minutes later Joe was driving the car back into the town he had so +recently left. His first day's battle with the world had resulted in +an adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +An Ocean Voyage + +"Not a single bone broken, I assure you," declared Dr. Tanner, when he +had thoroughly examined the stranger, to whose help Joe had so +opportunely come. "Bruises, of course; plenty of them. There's a +swelling here on the back of your head almost as big as a turnip. +You'd better rest quietly for the night." + +"But--but I have business to attend to," declared the stranger, who we +will at once introduce by his correct name of Hubbard. "I'm due in +Manchester to-morrow, then in Birmingham, and later in Coventry. I +can't sit down and rest." + +"You must, or take the consequences," answered Dr. Tanner, smiling. +"Come and have some tea. Joe, you join us; I've that yarn to have with +you about Canada. Now, Mr. Hubbard, what do you advise a young fellow +like this to do? He's not on his beam ends; far from it. He has a +little capital; but he's adrift as it were. Has no occupation, and no +means at present of earning a living." + +"Then I'll offer him work at once, work to last a week," declared Mr. +Hubbard. "Only a week, though, mind that, my young friend and rescuer. +I'm no great hand at driving a car, and after this accident I feel that +my nerve is shaken. Come along and drive the car. You managed +beautifully this afternoon. Come as a friend; I'll pay all expenses, +and give you three pounds into the bargain." + +"Done, sir!" It was characteristic of Joe that he accepted the post at +once. In fact, he leaped at it; for it was exactly to his liking. + +"But don't forget it's not a permanency, Joe," sang out the doctor, +lifting a warning finger and shaking it at him. "Permanent jobs are +the only posts for young fellows. They learn then to be useful, to +manage things. Temporary jobs lead to unsettlement. Besides, you know +the old adage, "a rolling stone gathers no moss". Moss is wealth and +position, all that makes for happiness, and you want to gather it with +both hands. Eh, Mr. Hubbard?" + +"Spoken like a wise counsellor," came the laughing rejoinder. "But you +began to speak of our young friend." + +"Well, there he is," said the doctor, pausing in the act of pouring out +a cup of tea, and pointing to Joe with the spout of the teapot, "there +he is, employed at this moment as chauffeur to yourself, but likely to +be without a job in the course of a week. What are his prospects in +this country? Fair, we will say; for he is one of the steady lads. +What are his prospects in Canada or Australia?" + +"Depends; he's a worker, you say?" + +Joe flushed as he listened to this conversation that reflected on +himself, then he laughed good-humouredly. + +"A worker, yes; steady, certainly," replied the doctor. + +"Then Canada will brighten his prospects. I know the country; I'm +doing business for a firm out there, and so can speak with some +knowledge. Certainly Canada will improve his prospects. He's got +capital?" + +"Sixty pounds," said Joe, who was listening eagerly. + +"Then forget it. Buy your ticket for the crossing, and then earn your +way. Forget the dollars till you've learned experience, then invest +them as you'll soon ascertain how to do. Bless us, but I wish I was in +his shoes! Think of the interest of such a life; think of the +enjoyment of working one's way up, of climbing higher! This humdrum +existence we most of us lead is tame beside such an opportunity for +flattering one's ambition." + +"In fact," asked the doctor, "you advise emigration?" + +"Indeed I do," came the prompt answer, while Mr. Hubbard stirred his +tea. "Mind you, I don't say that there is no opportunity in this +country for youth and ambition. What I do say is this. Where a man +has no ties, where a young fellow has lost his parents, and has little +or no influence to start his career, then Canada calls loudly to him. +There he will make new ties, new friends, new hopes. There he can have +land for the asking, if farming is what he wants; and success is +assured, one way or the other, if only he will put his back into the +work. Of course, I know what you're going to say, Doctor," he went on, +arresting the latter's interruption with uplifted teaspoon. "Men come +back again; men fail. Of course they do; the lonesomeness of the long +winter gives the half-hearted the blues. Others attempt to follow a +vocation for which they were never suited. Weak men break down under +the strain. Slackers get deported; but young active fellows, with +pluck behind them, and with grit and strength and health, they make +good every time, sir. They help to form the backbone of Canada." + +Joe's eyes glowed as he listened. His cheeks took on a colour to which +they had been a stranger of late, since trouble had come upon him. He +began to wonder what life in Canada would be like. He leaned forward, +one hand at his cup, his eyes shifting from the doctor to this voluble +stranger. Moreover, Mr. Hubbard was no ill-looking man to watch; there +was eagerness and keenness written on every feature of his face. +Perhaps he was thirty-five years of age, perhaps even younger. But he +was shrewd and level-headed without a doubt, also he gave one the +impression that he was a man who had travelled far and seen much, and +who ventured his opinions only when he knew his subject. It was plain +that Canada was an open book to him. + +"The long and the short of the matter then is this," smiled the doctor, +vastly interested in his visitor, "you advise Joe to go." + +"I advise him to go, and I'll put him up to the ropes. There!" + +Mr. Hubbard helped himself to cake, fixing his eyes sharply on our +hero; and Joe returned the glance unflinchingly. "You'll make good, or +I'm right out of my calculations," declared Mr. Hubbard, after quite a +long scrutiny of his features. "Then's the time when a man finds life +enjoyable, for he knows he's done well; he ain't got much to regret." + +That evening Joe heard more of Canada from his friend the constable. +He supped at the local hotel with his employer, and turned in early. +The following morning, after bidding farewell to the doctor and a few +others, he brought the car out of the yard, ran to the station, there +to pick up his box, and then came to a halt opposite the hotel door. + +"Been at work, I see," said Mr. Hubbard, surveying the car. "You've +straightened those mud guards and cleaned her. That's push; some +fellows wouldn't have thought of it. Others would have been too proud +to do the cleaning. Now let her hum." + +It does not require that we should follow the two on their trip about +the country. Suffice it to say that, thanks to previous experience, +Joe drove the car with ease and dexterity, a fact which his employer +had already noted. + +"And mighty lucky I am to have hit upon you," he laughed, as they +buzzed on their way to Manchester. "First, for the fact that you +dragged me out of my prison after that upset, and now because you were +free to come with me. I'm so stiff to-day that I couldn't have driven +had I wished, and I rather expect it will be a few days before I am +quite fit again. So it's a huge convenience, for my business wouldn't +wait." + +A week later the two ended their trip at Liverpool. + +"Where we see to this passage of yours to Canada," said Mr. Hubbard. +"Now, if you'll be advised, you'll go steerage. As you're emigrating, +best start in right at the beginning with the people who'll be +alongside you. I shall pay for your passage." + +In spite of Joe's protests, Mr. Hubbard insisted on doing this, and did +not finally say goodbye to our hero till he had seen him aboard the +Canadian Pacific liner which was to bear him to his destination. +Moreover, his gratitude to Joe took the form of an outfit as well as a +passage. + +"Clothes of every description are very dear out there," he said, "so +you'll want a kit with you. Everything warm, mind. That's the way. +In the hot weather you can leave off what you don't need; but in the +winter warm things are wanted." + +In the end Joe found himself with a strong box containing several +flannel shirts and underwear, a pair of high boots and two pairs of +strong nailed ones, socks in abundance, a suit of corduroy and one of +strong tweed, two neck handkerchiefs, a slouch hat, and various other +articles, not to mention a kettle, a teapot, a tin mug, basin, and +plate, with the necessary portable knives, forks, and spoons, and a +canteen containing tea and sugar and a tin of condensed milk. + +"Looks stupid to be taking all that rig, don't it?" asked Mr. Hubbard, +with a quizzical smile. "But then, you see, I've been through the +mill. You'll get to Quebec and then go aboard the train. Well, food +doesn't grow by the wayside nor on the cars. You've got to take it +along with you and cook whatever you want; so don't forget to buy up a +tin or so of sausages and such things. With those and the kit you've +got here you'll be in clover. Now, lad, there's the bell for +landlubbers to get ashore. Don't forget to give me a call one of these +days when you're round by Ottawa; and always remember to make good. +Goodbye!" + +Their hands met, they looked keenly into one another's eyes, and then +he was gone. Joe was alone again, alone upon the deck of a ship +swarming with people, but alone for all that; for everyone about him +seemed to have friends. He plunged his hands deep into his pockets and +whistled a merry tune; for if he were alone, Joe felt happy. The +fingers of his right hand nursed the banker's draft for those sixty +pounds he had banked; the fingers of his left handled the cash which +his liberal employer had paid him. His coat bulged to the right where +his father's letter was secreted, and somewhere on the ship was the +steel trunk which contained his kit. Alone! Joe scoffed at the +thought, and went on whistling merrily. + +"All ashore!" someone bellowed, while sailors ran past him on some +errand. The steam siren of the ship sent a wide spray of water over +the passengers, and then, as if thereby it had cleared its throat, it +set up a deep, reverberating roar that deafened all other sounds. The +deck thrilled and throbbed; the water right astern was churned into +milk-white foam, while the shore seemed to be moving. Joe leaned over +the side and waved frantically to Mr. Hubbard. Down below, he could +see a thousand faces. A thousand handkerchiefs waved frantically up at +him. Alone! Why, they all seemed to be friends; they all seemed to be +wishing him good fortune. Even the tall, stern waterside policemen +seemed to unbend and smile. + +"Hooray! Hooray!" shouted Joe, unable longer to restrain his +enthusiasm. "We're off." + +"Hooray!" came back from the throng on the landing stage. Then, as the +ship's head paid off to the pull of a tug, and another thrill went +through her as her turbines turned, the blaring notes of a trombone +came to the passengers. It was "Auld Lang Syne", and the tune sent +people sobbing. Joe watched a big fellow close beside him, and saw the +tears stream down his face. But the scene changed with the tune, and +that in an instant. It was "Rule Britannia" now, and the man was +standing erect and as stiff as a poker. + +"Old soldier," thought Joe. "Going out?" he asked. + +"To Canidy, yessir," came the answer. "Going out along with the missus +and the youngsters. Couldn't get work here in the old country. I +don't grumble, mind you. I'm not the one to shout out about aliens +crowding the likes of me out. It's the training that's wrong. I've +none; I'm good only for casual work and unskilled jobs, and there's +thousands more for 'em. But Jim--he's my brother--he went out this +five years ago, and he's made a pile already--a pile, sir, enough to +pay a passage for me and the missus and the children." + +There was hope in the honest fellow's face; he was looking with a glad +heart to the future, and no doubt at that moment was bidding farewell +to a past which, if not too pleasant and uncrowded with thoughts of +plenty and of enjoyment, at least had its touches of colour, its +memories, and its faces. + +By now the steamer was well in midstream, and the throb of the engines +was better felt. Not that your turbine leads to much vibration; but +still, with the horse-power possessed by these leviathans, it is only +reasonable that there should be some commotion. Joe walked to and fro +along the deck, and then began to feel hungry. He went to the +companion, a wide gap leading to the lower deck, and descended. There +was a woman halfway down vainly attempting to escort four children, all +of small stature. + +"Allow me," said Joe, and promptly picked up two of them. "Going out +to Canada?" he asked, though the question was hardly necessary, seeing +that that was the ship's only destination. + +"Winnipeg, sir," came the answer. "Husband went out a year ago; I'm +going to join him. Thank ye, sir!" + +Joe dived still lower into the depths of this monster ship, and found +himself in a huge hall with long tables set along the length of it. +Cloths were already laid, and there were mugs and plates in unending +rows, while dishes containing sliced cold meat were placed at +intervals. Already a number of people were seated, and Joe at once +took a place close to a respectable-looking couple. + +"Pardon," he asked, bumping the man as he sat down. + +"Eh?" + +"I apologized for knocking your arm," said Joe, flushing at the +bluntness of this individual. + +"Ah, me lad, thank ye," came the hearty answer. "Only it sort of took +me by surprise. I ain't used to overmuch politeness; we don't seem to +get much time where I come from. Been out before?" + +Joe shook his head, and asked for the plate of meat and bread and +butter. + +"Then you're green?" + +Joe smiled. "As grass," he said briskly. + +"Going to work or to play?" asked this stranger, as he stuffed a huge +piece of cake into his mouth. + +"Work--got to; I'd rather, any day." + +"Farming?" + +"That's my intention," declared Joe, helping himself liberally. + +"Then you'll like it. I'll be able to put you up to the ropes. You're +going out just at the right time, too, for it'll be fine weather. Tea, +me lad?" + +Joe accepted with pleasure, and began to look about him. People were +beginning to swarm down into this species of dining-hall, and they +presented all sorts and descriptions. There was a party of men +shepherded by an official of the Salvation Army, a dozen or more young +married couples, and as many women going out to join their husbands. A +small regiment of Scandinavians passed by, and were followed by a crew +of Russians. + +"Don't look as if they'd had so much as a bath between 'em, do they?" +grinned his neighbour. "But they've been travelling these many days, +and most like have crossed over from the continent during the night. +They're the boys fer work. Give me a Russian or a Scandinavian on the +farm. They earn their dollars and don't grumble. Now, lad, if you've +not been aboard one of these ships afore, you'd do well to settle your +bunk and take possession of it. There's a couple of likely youngsters +along here that we know of. They've come from our part of the world in +England, and they're decent fellows. Maybe you could pitch upon a +cabin fer three. If not, you'll have to sleep in the bunks out in the +open. Jim and Claude," he called, "here's a mate fer ye; get right +along and fix your bunks." + +Joe liked the look of the two young fellows instantly. They were about +his own age, and better dressed than many. He exchanged a smile with +them, then, having finished a meal which was excellent, to say the +least of it, and undoubtedly plentiful, he accompanied his two new +friends to the sleeping deck. Here were rows of canvas bunks suspended +on steel uprights and cross pieces, the whole looking clean and compact +and comfortable. At the vessel's sides were cabins of considerable +size, and, since they were amongst the first on the scene, they had no +difficulty in securing one to accommodate the three. + +"We'll be fine and comfortable in there," said one of the young fellows +named Claude. "We'll bring our things along just to prove possession. +Shouldn't leave anything about if I were you; for there might be a +thief aboard." + +Joe took the warning to heart, and so that there could be no danger of +a robbery where he was concerned, went to the purser promptly and there +deposited his banker's draft, his father's precious letter, and the +majority of the loose cash he possessed. + +"Now let's have a look round, and see if we can do anything to help," +said Jim, leading the way to the upper deck. Here they found a +seething crowd, for the ship was packed with emigrants, to say nothing +of her complement of first- and second-class passengers. She +presented, in fact, a good-sized township, with facilities for dealing +with every class of business, of which catering was not the least +important. In the centre of the crowds of emigrants our hero was soon +attracted to a railed-in space wherein was a mass of sand, and in this +a number of children were digging. Elsewhere men lounged and smoked, +while women sat on their worldly possessions, many of them looking +forlorn and lost. + +"Give them two days to settle down, and all will be happy and +contented," said one of the stewards who happened to be passing. +"We're going to have a smooth crossing, so that will help." + +He pushed his way through the throng and dived down below. A +stewardess followed him, and others came bustling after her. Officials +now were engaged in inspecting the tickets of the passengers, while a +summons brought the emigrants in a long waiting queue to a table set in +the dining-hall, where one of the doctors with an assistant took +careful stock of them, particularly to observe whether or no each +person had been recently vaccinated. + +Joe was glad to creep into his comfortable bunk that night, as it had +been a day of movement; but a good sleep did wonders for him, and when +he rose on the following morning he was as fresh as paint. + +"How do yer like it?" asked the pleasant fellow, close to whom he had +sat on the previous day when he descended for a meal; for, following a +habit on emigrant steamers, he took the same place at table. + +"There's something interesting all the time," said Joe. "This sea air +gives one an appetite." + +"Then peg in, lad," came the hearty advice. "Here's tea; help yerself. +Here's eggs and bacon, or will you have sausages?" + +The meal was an eye opener. No doubt there were many poor fellows +aboard who had not sat down to such a breakfast for many a long day, +for we must recollect that emigrants are not always prosperous when +they set out from the shores of Old England. It made Joe wonder of +what size was the storeroom on this ship, and how it was that the +purser or his assistants managed to gauge what would be required _en +route_. + +"Now you jest come along on deck with me and the missus and have a yarn +while I smoke. Do yer smoke?" asked the man who had been so friendly. + +"Not yet," was Joe's blushing answer. + +"And a good thing too. Not that I'm against it, seeing that I smoke +hard, and most of the day. What's yer name?" + +"Joe Bradley." + +"Mine's Sam Fennick. Sam's enough, and Joe'll do fer you. You ain't +been out before, you say. Who's sent you?" + +Joe was a confiding fellow, and told him his story; for Sam seemed an +excellent friend and listened with interest. + +"What'll you do?" he asked. "You'll land up in seven days, or perhaps +eight, at Quebec. There you'll go before the emigration authorities, +and will be examined again by the doctor. If all's well, you can start +right off on your own, providing you've sufficient dollars in your +pocket to make 'em sure you won't be a pauper. Paupers ain't what +Canada wants. She wants men with a little cash, not much--just enough +to keep the wolf away for a few days. But above everything, they must +be workers. And the Government over there won't have slackers. She +deports 'em double quick. Well, what'll you do?" + +"Look out for a farm," said Joe; "but where, beats me." + +"Then jest you think of New Ontario. It's the coming country. Now, +see here, mate; I'll give yer a piece of advice. You get along down +from Montreal. Accept a job on a farm, and stay there till the winter. +Then have a turn with the forest rangers. They don't do much in the +winter, it's true; but a few are kept going. Or you might go along +with a gang to a lumber camp. It'll keep you from rusting. Next +spring you could work again on a farm, and come the following cold +weather you ought to be able to look to yourself. We're off to seek a +location in this here New Ontario." + +"Then why couldn't I come with you?" asked Joe, for he liked the look +of this Sam Fennick. + +"And so you shall, but not at first. It'll take us best part of two +months to find a likely location. Then we've to make a heap of +arrangements, so I doubt our getting to at the job till late in the +year. So you'd better fix elsewhere; you can come along when we're +ready." + +It may be imagined that Joe spent many an hour discussing matters with +Sam, and soon began to long for Canada to heave in sight. However, +there were many miles of sea stretching between the ship and the Gulf +of St. Laurence, and they were not passed before he was involved in +another adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Volunteers called for + +It was rather late on the third morning of the voyage when Joe had his +attention attracted to one particular portion of the huge ship in which +he had taken passage to Canada. Not that this one particular portion +had escaped his notice; for, like the majority of young fellows +nowadays, our hero was certainly quick at observation. + +"Them things hum and squeak and flicker most of the day," said Sam +Fennick, withdrawing a somewhat dilapidated brier pipe from his mouth +and pointing the bowl at a deck house situated on the upper deck. +"What's it all about, youngster?" + +"Marconigrams coming and going," answered Joe; for the little house +alluded to was given up to that recent wonderful invention which allows +of messages being sent across space, without the aid and intervention +of the customary wires. "The young officer there used to live in our +neighbourhood. I once thought of becoming an operator myself, and, in +fact, had many lessons from him." + +"You had?" asked Sam, staring at Joe; for every hour that the two +conversed revealed to Sam that Joe was a little better than the +ordinary. Indeed, it is only reasonable that we should be fair, and +admit that in coming to such a conclusion Sam was strictly right. +After all, emigrants are not made up of the most intelligent or of the +highest educated of our population. Too often they are men and women +seeking a new life because of the failure of that which they had +previously followed; or they are young people with a fair education, +and with little else. In Joe's case, thanks to his own restless +ambition, and to the fact that his father had devoted many an hour to +him, the lad was acquainted with much unknown to the average emigrant. +And here was something. To Sam a marconigram was neither fish, flesh, +nor fowl; he didn't precisely know what it was, whether it had actual +shape, nor what was its colour. + +"Eh?" he asked. "You know the chap as works up there? And you've had +lessons? What's a marconigram, anyhow?" + +Joe explained with enthusiastic lucidity. + +"I've sent 'em, too," he said. "There was a station not so far from +us, and that's where I met Franc. It's nice having him aboard the same +ship. But he is busy, isn't he? There must be something happening out +of the ordinary. Wish I could go up there and join him; but it's +forbidden. He told me that particularly." + +It was only natural that our young hero should wish to see something of +a chum associated with former days. But Franc, the young Marconi +operator, was never get-at-able when on duty. It was only between the +spells of work in his office that he met Joe down on the emigrant deck +for'ard. Now, at the time when Sam and Joe were together, Franc was +undoubtedly busily engaged. Moreover, there was a subdued air of +mystery, if not of anxiety, about the officers who occasionally passed +amongst the emigrants. + +"What's up?" demanded Sam bluntly of one as he passed. "That thing +yonder"--and he again withdrew his pipe and pointed the bowl at the +Marconi office--"that thing's busy, I guess. Sending messages as fast +as the air'll take 'em. What's up, mister? Revolution back in the Old +Country, eh? What?" + +He received merely a curt answer; the officer hurried on, leaving Sam +none the wiser. + +"All the same, there's a ruction stirring somewhere," he said; "I can +see it with half an eye. The captain's walking up and down his bridge +as if there was lions after him. What's it all mean?" + +It became clearer, as the hours passed, that there was something +seriously wrong in some direction, though where or what the trouble +might be none could guess. Joe descended with his friend to dinner, +and it was not till he mounted to the deck again that he gained tidings +of what was happening. A huge column of pungent smoke was rising from +the fore hold of the ship as he gained the deck, while sailors were +moving about with wet cloths tied round their mouths. + +"A fire down below," said Sam, with a catch in his voice. "Lor'!" + +"Fire!" shrieked one of the passengers, a woman, as her eyes lit on the +smoke. Then the alarm was echoed from a hundred quarters. Men came +rushing up into the open. Women screamed, and one huge fellow, a +Russian by his appearance, came rushing across the deck and cast +himself into one of the boats. + +"Silence!" commanded the captain through his megaphone, coming to the +front of the bridge. "Quartermaster, turn that man out of that boat." + +"Aye, aye, sir!" came from a burly individual, already advancing on the +spot in question. "Now then," he said, when he had reached the boat, +"you hop out, quick." + +But the Russian was not inclined to do so. Terror had taken firm hold +on him, and he sat clutching the thwarts, heedless of the quartermaster +and of the fact that the boat sat firmly upon its guides on the deck, +and offered as yet no sort of protection. But he remained there for +only a minute, for the quartermaster hopped over the thwarts, seized +the Russian by his coat and by the seat of his trousers, and threw him +out without ceremony. + +"Passengers," called the captain, in a voice so steady that he might +have been inviting them to dinner, "there is nothing as yet to be +alarmed at. Please go on with your work or your pleasures as if +nothing were happening. I call upon every man and woman to set a good +example, remembering that there are children amongst us." + +That was enough. Men who had run forward with alarm written on their +faces went back to their wives and children at once. Others gathered +into anxious knots and went on with their pipes, while the children, +unconscious of their danger, romped about the decks. + +"All the same, it's a ticklish business," said Sam, after a while. +"They've got the hatches off, and I expect they're trying to clear out +the stuff that's afire. That looks bad, for as a rule they'd leave the +hatches on and turn steam sprays on to the burning cargo. Perhaps the +sprays can't get at the stuff that's afire." + +"In any case, the crew won't be able to continue for long at the work +unaided," added Joe. "Look! There's one overcome by the smoke; +they've carried him off along the deck to the doctor." + +In the course of the next hour four men were rendered incapable by the +pungent smoke issuing from the hold, while the smoke itself had become +even denser. Huge clouds arose through the hatchway and, caught by the +breeze--for all this while the ship was forging ahead at her fastest +pace--went billowing out behind her. So dense, in fact, was it, that +the passengers for'ard could not see the bridge nor any other part of +the giant vessel. + +"Want volunteers?" asked Joe of an officer hurrying along the deck. + +"Eh?" came the curt and hurried answer. + +"Do you want any help?" repeated Joe. "There are plenty of us who +would be eager and willing. That would free the men who are needed for +the usual work of the vessel." + +"Well now, that's a fine idea. See here," said the officer hurriedly, +"I'll get along to the skipper and ask him what his wishes are. Of +course he may say he's right as things are, but then the 'Old Man' may +think differently. Meanwhile, you get a few likely chaps together. If +they're wanted, everything'll be ready." + +He went off at a quick pace, striding over the deck, and Joe saw him +clambering to the bridge, where he sought the anxious captain. + +"Well?" demanded Sam, for the idea of volunteers being called for had +never occurred to him. "What'll you do?" + +"Get a few men together at once," said Joe. "You stop here, and I'll +send 'em over to you. That'll allow them to gather without creating a +fuss. Anything is likely to increase the uneasiness of the passengers, +and we don't want to add to the alarm they already feel." + +He left Sam smoking heavily by the rail and went off amongst the +passengers, who, in spite of their efforts to remain calm, were +obviously filled with alarm. For if huge clouds of smoke had been +coming from the open hatch before, it was billowing out now in vast +volumes, smoke, too, which set everyone on the bridge choking, for +there was a slight headwind, and the breeze the ship herself made in +her rapid passage through the air helped to carry the smoke backward. +As to the first- and second-class passengers, they had been driven to +take shelter on the lower deck right aft, and were therefore entirely +invisible. Joe accosted Jim and Claude, the two young fellows who were +his cabin companions, and, whispering to them, sent them over to Sam. +In the course of some ten minutes he had selected a couple of dozen +young fellows, all of whom he had chatted with at various times during +the past two days. That, indeed, is one of the curious results of +travel aboard a ship. One becomes acquainted with one's fellow +passengers during the first day; their inner history is often known by +the evening of the second; while, long before the trip is ended, often +enough their innermost thoughts, their ambitions, and their hopes are +the property of one or other of the many friends they have made on +board. In any case, Joe was the sort of lad who makes friends quickly. +Free from that stupid side which sometimes afflicts the youth of this +and other countries, he had a welcoming smile for everyone, and was +ready to exchange his views with Dick, Tom, or Harry. It was not +remarkable, therefore, that he had already become acquainted with a +number of young fellows, bachelors like himself. + +"I'll choose them in preference to the married men," he told himself. +"The latter have pluck and dash enough, I know; but they have wives and +children, and their services will be required by the families. Hi, +Bill!" he called to another of his chums, beckoning him, "volunteers +are likely to be wanted to help the sailors. Are you----" + +"Right!" declared the man abruptly. + +"Then get across to Sam Fennick; he's away over there at the rail. +Just go on smoking as if nothing out of the way were happening. Got a +good-sized handkerchief in your pocket?" + +"No, no; I ain't got that," admitted Bill, after hunting about his +person. + +"Then get off to the cabin steward, or to the purser, if you can find +him, and ask for three dozen towels. We can easily get a bucket of +water up on deck, and that will give us the right thing to put round +our mouths." + +It was perhaps five minutes later when Joe went sauntering back to Sam. +Quite a couple of dozen men had already congregated about him, and +stood for the most part lolling against the rail and smoking +contentedly; but there was not one who was not watching the smoke +issuing from the hatchway critically. + +"Seems to me as there's more of it, and it's kinder hotter," said Sam, +almost in a whisper, as Joe came to his side. "Well, you've got the +boys together, and the right sort too. Now, if I'd been asked, I'd +have been flummoxed from the very beginning, and as like as not I'd +have chosen the wrong sort." + +"They're all single men," answered Joe. "Married men will be wanted to +set an example of coolness to the passengers and allay their fears. +Has that officer come along again? Ah, here's Bill! Well?" he +demanded, as the latter came over to him with a bundle beneath his arm. + +"Got 'em easy," panted the latter. "A steward gave 'em to me right +off. Now?" + +He asked the question in excited tones and in a loud voice. + +"Keep cool, and don't speak too loud," Joe cautioned him. "We want a +bucket of fresh water. Who'll get it?" + +Jim went off promptly, and when he returned some three minutes later it +was to meet the officer coming towards the group. + +"Ah," said the latter, singling Joe out, "you're the young fellow that +spoke about volunteers. Well, now, the skipper says that he'd be glad +of 'em, but they must be carefully selected--single men only, you know." + +"How'll these do then, mate?" asked Sam, swinging his open palm round +so as to embrace the little band of men Joe had selected. "This here +young chap"--and he pointed to our hero--"seems to have the right ideas +always tucked away at the back of that head of his. You'd no sooner +gone than he was away selecting his men. Every one of 'em single, too, +'cos he says as the married 'uns must be calm, and set all the rest an +example. And he's got towels for every man, and a bucket o' water here +to soak 'em in. Spry, ain't it?" + +For perhaps a whole minute the officer looked Joe coolly up and down. +Indeed, at any other time his open inspection might have been +interpreted as a rudeness. But there was something more than mere +curiosity in his eye. He stretched out a hand sailor fashion and +gripped our hero's. + +"You're young," he said bluntly, "but you've the right sort of pluck, +and a headpiece with which to back it. Bring your men along; I like +the look of 'em. But first to explain. This fire's been going ever +since two in the morning. It's somewhere in a lot of cotton goods +right under a heap of other cargo, and try as we have we can't stifle +it. Nor can we get at it with our sprays. So we're attempting to move +the other stuff, and then we'll pitch what's alight overboard or swamp +it with water from the hoses. It's the smoke that's the trouble. You +come right along." + +He led the way to the hatchway, Joe and his men following, while almost +at once a crowd of steerage passengers massed themselves along the rail +which cut them off from that part of the deck, and detecting the object +of the little band, and realizing that they were volunteers, sent up a +hoarse cheer of encouragement. + +"Just you skipper the lot, youngster," said the officer, turning when +close to the hatchway. "Keep those not at work below well to windward, +then they'll be able to breathe easily. You can see that the skipper's +put his helm over, so as to blow the smoke more abeam, for the people +aft could hardly breathe. Now, you come down with me and I'll show you +what's wanted; then you can set your men to at it." + +Joe damped a towel in the bucket of water and tied it round his mouth +and nose. Then he followed the officer over the edge of the hatchway, +and gripping the iron ladder which descended vertically, soon found +himself standing some thirty feet below on a pile of huge boxes. + +"Machinery, and heavy stuff too," said the officer, taking him across +to a part where there was little smoke. "Now, you can see for yourself +whereabouts the fire is. The smoke tells you. Ah! there's another man +done for!" + +Joe's surroundings were indeed sufficient to cause more than the usual +interest, for the scene was filled with movement. Overhead the square +of the open hatchway framed a beautiful if confined area of blue sky, +across which a few white clouds were scudding. But it was not always +that one could see this view, for huge columns of smoke issued from the +hold in front of him and went swirling up, to cease entirely at moments +and then to gush forth again, for all the world as if someone were +stationed in the depths amongst the cargo and were using a gigantic +bellows. For the rest, a couple of huge reflectors threw the light +from a number of electric bulbs into the hold, though without any +seeming effect, for the dense smoke made the darkness almost +impenetrable. Here and there a man rested well to one side, his mouth +bound up with a handkerchief, while deeper in, entirely invisible, were +other men. One heard a shout now and again and the clatter of moving +boxes. Overhead, too, dangled a rope swinging from a derrick. It was +at the precise moment when Joe's quick eye had gathered these details, +that a couple of men came into sight staggering across the boxes and +bearing a man between them. + +"Dropped like a rabbit, he did," gasped one of them, as they placed the +man on his back on one of the boxes. "Went down jest as if he'd been +shot. Above there! Lower away." + +A head appeared in the opening of the hatchway, while a second later a +cloud of smoke shot upward, hiding the head and setting the owner +coughing. But the derrick above swung over promptly, and the rope +descended. + +"You two men get to one side and rest," said the officer. "I and this +friend here will see to the man. Now," he went on swiftly, "lend a +hand while I pass the rope round this poor chap. That's the way. Now +steady him while I go aloft. You'll get your men down as you want 'em." + +He had already spoken to an officer on duty down below, and now went +clambering upward. A moment later Joe was guiding the unconscious body +of the sailor as he was hoisted upward. Then, cramming the towel close +round his nose and mouth, he dived into the clouds of smoke till, aided +by the electric light, he saw an officer. + +"Shall I bring some of the men down now, sir?" he asked. "I've two +dozen up above, all ready to lend a hand. I thought it would be best +to employ them in two batches." + +The officer, a young man of some twenty-five years of age, rose from +the box he was helping to lift, coughed violently, and then accompanied +Joe back to the part directly under the hatchway. + +"My word," he gasped, when at length a violent attack of coughing had +subsided and allowed him to speak, "we'll be glad to have you. That's +hot work in there. You've two dozen, you say? Then bring along half +of them; they'll be mighty useful." + +Joe went swarming upward at once and, arriving on the deck, promptly +told off twelve of the men. He was down again with them within a few +seconds, at once leading them forward to where the work was in progress. + +"That you?" asked the officer, peering at him through the smoke and +coughing. "Then get to at these boxes. We're pulling them aside, and +till we've got a heap more away we shan't be able to reach the spot +where there's fire. When we do, things won't be so easy. There'll be +a burst of smoke and flames, I should imagine." + +"Then we'd better have the other half of this gang ready with sacks and +blankets damped with water," cried Joe. "A hose wouldn't stop the +fire, and the water would do a heap of damage. Eh?" + +"You're the boy!" gasped the officer. "That's an idea; will you see to +it?" + +Joe nodded promptly, and then set his gang to work to help the sailors +already employed in moving the cargo. Dashing away as soon as he saw +that they understood what was required of them, he swarmed up to the +top of the hatchway and called loudly to one of the gang above. + +"Find one of the officers if you can, or, better still," he said, "go +along to the purser. Ask for twenty or thirty old blankets. Take a +mate or two with you and bring the lot along here; then swamp them with +water. When you've got them ready have them slung down into the hold. +You've followed?" + +The young fellow nodded eagerly. "Got it pat," he declared, swinging +round. "I'll be back inside ten minutes." + +Joe slid down below without further waiting, and, joining his men, +attacked the cargo with energy. Half an hour later, perhaps, after a +bulky parcel wrapped in matting had been dragged from its place, a +sudden burst of smoke drove the workers backward. It was followed by a +hot blast of air and then by tongues of flame. + +"Looks bad," declared the officer, rising to his feet from the box on +which he had been seated; for he was taking a well-earned rest. +"There's stuff below there that's well alight. Look at that! There's +smoke and flames for you." + +"And we'll need to drown the fire at once," cried Joe. "I'll bring the +other gang down and set them to fight it." + +Once more he clambered over the boxes from the dark depths of the hold +and, gaining the open space beneath the hatchway, shouted loudly. At +once a head appeared, and another call brought the second half of his +gang tumbling downward. + +"Each of you take one of the damped blankets," said Joe, standing +beside them. "See that the towels are well over your mouths and noses, +and then follow me. We've got to the seat of the fire, and have to do +our best to damp it out. Now, follow one after the other." + +Seizing a blanket himself, he led the way till within twenty feet of +the spot where the last bale had been torn out of its position. The +workers whom he had left had been driven backward to that point, and +were crouching down with their heads as low as possible, coughing and +choking as dense masses of smoke swept about them. Joe saw red tongues +of flame, and at once, without hesitation, advanced on the spot, +holding the blanket before him. But if he imagined he had an easy +task, he was quickly to learn that he was mistaken. The choking clouds +of pungent smoke which swelled past him and hid him from the men was +the least part of the difficulty. It was the heat which threatened to +defeat his efforts. For a hot blast surrounded him. He felt of a +sudden as if he had plunged into a furnace, while his nostrils burned +as if he were inhaling flames. Then the blanket, in spite of its +soaking, steamed heavily and began to shrivel. + +"Forward!" Joe commanded himself. "This is not the time to give back. +Push on and get your blanket down right on the spot where the cargo is +alight." + +Pulling himself together, as it were, and summoning all his energies, +Joe dashed forward over the uneven flooring, the heat wave about him +increasing in intensity. A gust of hot air, an intensely burning +breath gripped him, while lurid flames swept past him on either hand. +Even the wetted blanket showed signs of giving way before such an +ordeal, for one corner curled upward and then burst into flame. But +Joe was a stubborn fellow. He was not the one to be beaten when so +near the goal, and half stifled and roasted he pushed on, cast his +blanket over a spot which appeared to be white with heat, and trod it +down manfully. He retreated then as fast as he could, followed by a +dense smoke which made breathing impossible. + +"Next!" he shouted, when he could speak. "Don't stop. We must pile +the blankets on as thick as possible." + +It says much for the courage of those steerage passengers that not one +of the volunteers hesitated. Helped by the members of the crew, to +whose aid they had come, they rushed forward pell-mell, casting the +wetted blankets over Joe's; then, having trodden them down, they +retreated before the dense smoke which drove them out. They sat in +groups and anyhow, gasping beneath the open hatchway, some of them even +having to beat the fire from their clothes. + +"We've fixed that fire, I think," gasped the officer at last, for the +smoke seemed to be less intense. "If so, it's the luckiest thing I've +ever encountered." + +"Wait," cautioned Joe. "That smoke's more pungent. That looks as if +the fire were still burning." + +Five minutes later it was clear that he was right; for flames suddenly +shot out at the gang of workers, scorching their hair and driving them +backward. Nor was it possible to advance again with wetted blankets. +For an hour the gallant workers struggled to subdue the blaze by +throwing water from a couple of hoses into the hold. But that effort +too proved useless. It was clear that the fire had got beyond control, +and that the safety of the passengers depended on the ship reaching a +port very soon, or coming in with another vessel. Then, and then only, +did the news circulate that Franc, the young Marconi operator and Joe's +friend, had been placed out of action. + +"It's just broken up our chances," groaned the officer who had been +working beside our hero. "That fellow has been calling for four or +five hours so as to get in touch with another vessel. But there was +none within reach fitted with the Marconi apparatus. Now he's fallen +down the gangway, and lies in the doctor's quarters with one leg broken +and himself unconscious. It's a regular bad business." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Joe Gathers Credit + +"All passengers come aft," shouted the captain as Joe and his gang, +together with the sailors, clambered out of the reek of heat and smoke +and ascended from the hold. "All passengers must collect their +belongings at once and come aft of the bridge. Be quick, please; we +can allow only ten minutes." + +Blackened and singed by the heat, with their clothing scorched and +actually burned in some places, Joe and his helpers came up through the +hatchway and almost fell upon the deck, for they were exhausted after +their long fight in a stifling atmosphere. Then the hatches were +thrown on and wedged down. + +"We've got to leave things like that," said the officer to whom Joe had +first of all suggested that volunteers should be called for. "We shall +turn on the steam sprayers and hope that they, together with the want +of air, will kill the fire. You've done well, young fellow. The +captain's been asking for your name. But just you hop along right away +and gather your traps, else you'll lose everything." + +In a little while it began to look as if our hero might lose even more +than his belongings, or rather that the loss of his kit would be of +little moment to him; for the fire in the hold, which perhaps had been +little more than smouldering before, now blazed out with redoubled +fury. Indeed, it was not long after the steerage passengers had gone +scampering aft, dragging their children and their belongings with them, +that the deck right for'ard became almost too hot to walk on, while the +sides of the ship were red-hot. + +"The deck'll fall in soon if this goes on," said the same officer, +accosting Joe as he came aft. "I've known a steamer afire keep moving +till she reached port, and then she was red-hot from end to end. But +we've a steel bulkhead just on a level with the bridge, and I guess +that's keeping the blaze forward. So it'll be the fo'c'sle that'll be +burned out, and that deck'll fall in before long. Then the blaze'll +become worse. You fellows were grand; you did your best for us. Now +you come along to the captain." + +They found that anxious officer striding up and down the bridge, as if +there were nothing to disturb him. But there were perhaps a thousand +eyes upon this chief officer of the vessel, and, knowing that, he set +an example of wonderful sangfroid. + +"I thank you greatly," he said, as the officer brought Joe on to the +bridge. "Mr. Henry has told me how you raised volunteers, and likely +volunteers too, and Mr. Balance has reported how well all behaved. I +thank you, sir, in the name of the ship's owners and her crew and +passengers. It's a nasty business." + +"Thank you, sir," answered Joe, blushing at the receipt of such praise. +"I was wondering whether I could be of further service." + +"Eh? Why, yes; but how?" asked the captain. + +"I was thinking of your Marconi operator, sir." + +"Eh? Ah, poor chap! That's the most unfortunate thing that could have +happened. But--I don't quite follow," said the captain, looking +closely at Joe. + +"Only I knew him well, sir, and often worked with him. I've frequently +sent a Marconi message. There's no great difficulty if you are fond of +mechanical things and have learned the code. I worked hard at it, as I +thought once of going into the Marconi service." + +"The deuce you did!" came the sharp answer, while the skipper of this +huge ship, with so much responsibility on his shoulders, turned a deep +red colour beneath his tan and whistled shrilly. "You can--but you +don't mean to tell me that you could handle his apparatus, that you +could call up and talk with a ship if she happened to be within reach +of us?" + +"Let me see the things and I'll soon tell you," said Joe quietly, +feeling nevertheless somewhat nervous lest his recent lack of +experience should have resulted in forgetfulness. For it must be +remembered that although a code such as is used by Marconi and other +telegraphic operators becomes second nature, and is as easy to them as +is writing to the average individual, yet such codes with want of +practice soon become forgotten. Joe might have forgotten; want of +practice might have stiffened his wrist. His "transmitting" powers +might be now so cramped and slow, that an operator "receiving" aboard +some other ship would not pick up his message; also, the converse might +well be the case. His ear, unaccustomed now for some little while to +the familiar sounds so particular to a telegraph instrument, might fail +to pick out the meaning of dot and dash coming across the waves of +ether so rapidly. + +"Let me have a look into the office and also a talk with Franc. He'll +tell me what is the company's usual call. I'm not so cocksure of being +able to send and receive for you, sir; but I can try, and I think I'll +succeed." + +"That's fifty times better than being dead sure and failing miserably," +cried the captain. "I'd sooner by a lot have a fellow tell me he'd +try, than go off full of assurance and conceit. Of course you can see +the operator. But he's hurt badly; they tell me he was stunned. Take +him along, Mr. Henry." + +It was a fortunate thing for the passengers aboard the vessel that Joe +found his friend able to speak and understand. Indeed, the unfortunate +Franc was fuming and fretting on account of the injury that had come to +him; not because of the damage he had suffered, or of the pain, which +was considerable, but because of his helplessness and the ship's dire +need help. He raised his head as Joe entered, then called out gladly. + +"Why, I'd forgotten you entirely, Joe!" he almost shouted. "I might +have remembered that you knew the code and had worked the +'transmitter'. Get right along to the office and call up help. We +want a ship to come over and take off the passengers, and then stand by +while we run on into port. Here, I'll give you the company's call." + +A few minutes with his friend told Joe sufficient to send him along to +the Marconi office full of assurance, and within a quarter of an hour +the apparatus, silent since Franc came by his damage, was flicking and +clicking again, causing a thousand and more anxious pairs of eyes to be +cast upward at the raking masts and at the web of wires suspended +between them. + +"There's an answer," he told Mr. Henry, when he had sent the call +across the water on a dozen and more occasions. "Wait till I can say +who it is. What am I to tell them about our position?" + +The officer at once wrote down the ship's approximate position on a +piece of paper, while Joe tapped on the key and listened to the +receiver. + +"Tell 'em we've fire in number one hold, and are almost roasted," he +said. "Ask 'em to come along and take off our passengers, unless she +happens to be steering the same course, when, if she'll run on beside +us, there may not be need to transfer the passengers. Ah, she's +calling you." + +Rapidly did Joe get accustomed to the apparatus. No doubt he could +neither send nor receive a message at the same rate as his injured +friend; but if the messages were slow and laboured, and not always too +correct, they were accurate enough for his purpose. Indeed, it was not +long before he was able to send a long dispatch to the captain. + +"S.S. _Kansas City_ answered us," he wrote. "She's steering +west-north-west, and on a line to intercept us. Doing fifteen knots +and a little better. She's a hundred miles away, and will look out for +us. She sends that she's bound for Halifax." + +"That'll suit well," said Mr. Henry, coming back from the bridge and +the captain. "She ought to fall into company with us about midnight or +early in the morning, and, of course, if there's need, we can slow down +or stop altogether, while she turns north and runs direct up to us. +But we can see this thing through till morning. By then the +fo'c'sle'll be little better than an ash heap. It'll be a case of +clearing the passengers and then fighting the flames, or the ship'll go +to the bottom. See over here; it's worth looking at, if only to +remember." + +He took Joe out of the office to the rail of the vessel and then drew +his attention to the steel plates for'ard. If they had been of a dull +red heat before, they were now of a bright redness, while flames were +actually issuing from some of the lower portholes. As for the deck, it +was a smouldering mass of blackness, to which a thin cloud of smoke +clung tenaciously. + +"You'd want thick boots on to walk across it," said Mr. Henry, "and +then you'd never know when it might fall in and take you into a +furnace. I tell you, a fire aboard ship is almost as bad as one in the +forests of Canada. Ever heard tell of them?" + +"Never," replied Joe, shaking his head. + +"Then they're bad, real bad, and you've to move quick if you want to +live through one. Now aboard a ship you can batten things down, just +as we've done; or you can rouse up some of the cargo, get a hold of the +stuff that's alight, and heave it into the water. That's what we tried +and failed to do. Now there's nothing more but to wait till we join +company with the _Kansas City_. Reckon there's a crowd of people will +be glad to say goodbye to this vessel." + +A saunter between decks proved that rapidly to our hero. Not that +there was any great alarm or any marked sign of uneasiness. People +congregated in little bunches; men stood lounging and smoking together, +talking in eager, low voices. Here and there a woman was weeping; but +there were few who showed less courage than the men, and, indeed, not a +few displayed noble devotion. + +"How's things going?" asked Sam, accosting our hero and whispering his +question. "They tell me you've been up with the captain and have been +working the Marconi office. You'll come in for something, me lad. +Guess the skipper of this ship did a lucky thing when he booked you as +a passenger. But what's happening?" + +Joe told him in a few words. "We've got into contact with another +ship," he said. + +"Which means that you have," answered Sam, catching him up abruptly. +"Give things their right names, lad. But there, I've seen it with you +afore. It's jest like Joe Bradley to leave himself out of the +question. So you've got talking with another vessel?" + +"The _Kansas City_," Joe explained. "She's steering a course south of +us and almost parallel. She's coming north a little of her course, and +should reach us early in the morning. If need be, and we cut off +steam, she could come due north and get alongside before midnight even." + +"Then that's a bit of news that'll help people," said Sam, satisfaction +in his voice. "I'll go and tell folks about here. Truth is, there's a +few got the jumps bad, but we've give 'em a lesson. Jim and Claude and +me, when we all came aft, saw that one or more of them foreigners was +likely to prove troublesome. We found some of 'em packing their kit in +the boats and pushing agin the women; but I fetched one of 'em a smack +that'll make him sit up fer a fortnight, while when a bunch of +'em--low-down rascals, as I should name 'em--got out o' hand and went +howling along towards the officers' quarters with the idea, it seems, +of putting their dirty hands on the skipper and forcing him to quit the +ship and put 'em aboard the boats, why, me and some of the boys you got +together went for the beggars. There was a proper turn-up between us, +and there's a few nursing their heads at this moment; but it jest +settled matters. You see, the best of the foreigners came in and +joined with our party, and what with that and the hiding we gave these +fellows, why, things has quieted down wonderful. Only, of course, +there's anxiety; a chap can't be altogether easy when he's sailing on a +red-hot furnace, with miles of sea about him." + +There was, in fact, wonderful order and coolness displayed on the ship, +and nowhere more than amongst the emigrant passengers. Indeed, all +vied in endeavouring to keep up the courage of the women and to leave +the officers and crew of the vessel to carry out their work unimpeded. +As for Joe, he spent the next few hours in the Marconi office, keeping +in constant touch with the _Kansas City_, and every hour he was able to +report that she was nearer. + +"You'd better send along and ask her to make slick up here," said Mr. +Henry, as darkness closed about them. "Some of the plates for'ard have +burned through, and the air rushing in is making the fire blaze up +terribly. The skipper is going to shut off and lie to. It's the only +way of saving the vessel." + +He handed Joe a written message, which the latter transmitted through +his instrument, reporting in turn that the other ship had now changed +her course and was coming direct toward them. Meanwhile the burning +vessel was brought to a standstill, the throb of her engines ceasing +save for an occasional thrill, as one or other of the screws was +rotated so as to keep the stern always before the wind. The bugles +rang out for tea almost at the accustomed hour, and, to the amazement +of many, the emigrants found food and drink ready for them, but not in +the same quarters. They were now huddled together, without cabins and +without bunks to lie in, except in the case of the women and children, +who, thanks to the unselfishness of the first- and second-class +passengers, were accommodated in the cabins previously occupied by +single gentlemen. + +It was near midnight when at length a loud booming in the distance, and +the turning of a brilliant light upon them, intimated to the people +aboard the burning ship that the _Kansas City_ was within reach of +them. A deep cheer broke from a thousand lips, while many people burst +into tears. Then Joe and his little band were again requisitioned. + +"The captain's compliments," said Mr. Henry, "and he wishes that you +will organize the men again, so that there may be no confusion when +embarking the women. Get double the number this time if you can, and +place them in batches near every boat. The stewards will help, and +between you it ought to follow that there will be no confusion. But +there's never any saying when you have to deal with foreigners." + +"Then Sam's my man this time," thought Joe, going in search of that +worthy. "If between us, as Mr. Henry says, we can't keep order, why, +what's the use of us at all? Ah, there he is! Sam!" he called loudly. + +"Going to tranship us?" asked the latter. + +"Yes; women and children first. They've asked me to organize double +the number of helpers. Let's call out the old lot. We can select the +others very quickly; a few Russians and Scandinavians amongst them +would help greatly. Ah! There's Jim, and Claude with him. Boys!" he +called, waving to them. + +It may be imagined that the work of selection was not accomplished in a +minute; for with the coming of the relief ship there was huge confusion +amongst the emigrants, as also amongst the first- and second-class +passengers. The courage of many, bravely shown through a number of +trying hours, broke down suddenly. Men, and women too, who had set a +fine example to their fellows, were seen to lose their heads and their +coolness. Passengers dashed to and fro, bumping into any who crossed +their path, while one or two became absolutely violent in their efforts +to push nearer to the spot where the gangway would be lowered. +However, Joe and his friends were soon collected together, and then, +with Sam's help, a body of forty or more was rapidly selected. + +"You tell 'em off; you've the orders and hang of what's wanted," said +Sam, lighting his pipe for perhaps the twentieth time. + +"Then break up into parties of five," said Joe. "Now get along to the +boats, five to each. Don't let a soul enter unless you have the +captain's orders. Sam, you and I will help the stewards; I see that +they are already ranging the women and children into lines. Some of +the poor things look half-distracted." + +The ordeal was indeed a severe one for many on board, and rendered not +a few of the women completely helpless. However, what with the help +that the stewards gave, aided by the stewardesses and Sam and Joe, the +long lines were soon quieted. Then, beneath the flare of huge electric +lamps, the work of transferring women and children to the _Kansas City_ +was conducted, the latter ship lowering her boats for that purpose, +while those aboard the burning vessel were reserved for a future +occasion. + +"Men now," shouted the officer standing at the top of the gangway; and +at the order the men aboard filed slowly downward and were taken off, +till none but the crew, the stewards, and Joe and his gang remained. + +"Now," called Mr. Henry, seeing our hero and his party, "your turn." + +Joe walked directly up to him, with Sam at his side, while the captain +descended from the bridge at that moment and joined them. + +"We volunteer to stay," he said. "We've talked it over. It seems that +now that the passengers are gone, particularly the women and children, +you will tackle the fire again. You will want help for that. We're +game to stay. We'd like to stand by till this job is finished." + +"And, by George, so you shall!" cried the captain, bringing a hand down +on our hero's shoulder and almost flooring him. "By James, sir, so you +shall stand by us! A pluckier lot I never hope to run across, and I've +never seen men better handled. You, sir, Mr. Joe Bradley, I understand +is your name, and this other gentleman whom you call Sam, have behaved +with conspicuous gallantry. I can tell you, gentlemen, it means much +to the officers and crew of a vessel such as this is if, when a pinch +comes, when danger faces them, there are men at hand to quieten the +foolish, to reduce the would-be rioters to subjection, and to fight the +danger side by side with the crew. It means a very great deal. Often +it means the difference between security and disaster. Stay, +gentlemen--we are about to fight those flames again, and you can help +us wonderfully." + +By now the _Kansas City_ had sheered off a little, lying to some three +or four hundred yards from the blazing vessel, which presented a truly +awful appearance, for in the darkness her red-hot plates shone +conspicuously. Lurid flames belched from her lowest ports forward, +while at one part, where the plates had burned through, there was a +wide ragged gap through which a veritable furnace was visible. + +"We've got to flood the fo'c'sle," said Mr. Henry, as he stood beside +Sam and our hero. "The carpenter, 'Chips', as we call him, is +hammering up a staging at this moment, and when that's popped into a +boat a man will be able to reach that opening where the plates have +gone. We couldn't do it by lowering a seaman over the side, for the +simple reason that the deck away for'ard is far too hot to allow anyone +to walk on it. So we shall try from the sea. At the same time, we +shall pull off the hatches and pour water in amongst the stores till +they're flooded. You come along to the hatchway. It's not likely that +we'll be able to go down. But later on, if we're fortunate, we might +be able to do so, and so get closer to the fire." + +Working without confusion, and indeed in no apparent haste, the crew +soon pulled the hatches off the hatchway. Meanwhile a pinnace had been +lowered, and into her the carpenter had built a species of platform +raised some ten feet above the thwarts. Peeping over the side, Joe saw +that there was a crew already aboard her, while men were paying out a +ship's hose over the rail, where there was no heat and therefore no +danger of the hose burning. In a little while two lusty fellows were +perched on the top of the staging, and, operating the nozzle of the +hose together, were directing a stream of water in through the ragged +gap which existed for'ard, and which we have already mentioned. By +then, too, Joe and his friends had contrived to get three hoses going +through the hatchway, though their efforts seemed to be little rewarded. + +"We're not reaching the actual seat of the fire, and the place is so +huge that even a flood of water fails to swamp the flames," said Joe, +as Mr. Henry came along to see how they were progressing. "There's one +thing helping us, and that is the absence of smoke. I suppose the +stuff which sent out that pungent smoke has got burned, and there is no +more of it." + +"Shouldn't wonder," came the answer. "As to reaching the fire, you +must just keep at it. This hatchway is too hot yet to allow a man to +clamber down the ladder." + +It was decidedly hot, for when Joe put his hand on the iron ridge which +surrounded the open hatch he withdrew it with a sharp cry. Indeed, the +metal was almost red-hot, while a fiery heat as from a furnace +ascended, cooled a little perhaps by the sprays of water sousing in +from the hoses. + +"I believe a fellow could reach the fire if only he could get below +there and bear the heat," said Joe, perhaps half an hour later. "Look +here, Sam, I'm going to make an effort. I'll tie a noose in the rope +from the derrick, sit in it, and then get lowered. The men can play a +hose on me while I'm descending, and even when I'm down below. Let's +see if I can bear it." + +A shout from Sam brought Mr. Henry, and an order from the latter soon +secured a long length of steel cable with strong electric lamps at the +end of it. At his suggestion this was made fast to the wire rope, in +which a wooden seat was fastened. Then Joe stepped into the noose, +gripped the rope and the hose, and called on the engineman to lower +slowly. + +"You don't need to trouble about the electric lights," called out Mr. +Henry. "They're well insulated and perfectly watertight. The only +thing that will damage the cable is the heat. Raise your arm if it's +too great for you. We'll haul you up in a jiffy." + +Out swung the rope, and Joe with it. For a while he was dangled well +above the open hatchway, with a sheer fall of forty feet beneath him, +and a glowing furnace somewhere in the hold for'ard. Whisps of smoke +curled up about him, while the heat was almost stifling, but not so +severe as it had been when he and his helpers had attacked the flames +at closer quarters. + +[Illustration: JOE ATTACKS THE FIRE AT CLOSE QUARTERS] + +"Lower away," he shouted, and then nodded to Sam to turn his hose on +him. "Keep the water going, and start my hose," he called to those at +the edge of the hatchway. "Now, slowly does it." + +Very gently the engineman slacked out the rope running over the top of +the derrick, causing Joe to slowly disappear within the open mouth of +the hatchway. Meanwhile those in charge of the hoses paid the one out +which Joe carried, and Sam, as if he were bent on doing his young +friend an injury, sent a stream of water squirting against our hero +till the latter was drenched, and till the force of the impact of the +stream caused him to sway and twist at the end of the sling. + +"Steady!" he shouted. "Less water; you'll drown me!" and, obedient to +the order, Sam shouted to the men and saw that the stream was reduced. +He sent a cascade downward now, for Joe had descended still lower, +causing the water to fall on his shoulders and then go tumbling and +hissing to the floor beneath. And, thanks to this deluge, and to the +water spouting from the hose he carried, Joe was able to prepare the +way before him. He could hear the fluid actually hissing, and see it +rising in thick clouds of steam as it fell on iron and woodwork. It +bubbled as it tumbled in a heavy cascade on huge masses of +tightly-packed machinery directly beneath him, and then it began to +settle into quiet pools. + +"Steady!" he shouted again. "Hold on till things get a little cooler." + +But ten minutes later he called to them to lower away, and in a little +while had stepped from the sling and was actually advancing into the +hold. A sailor joined him, and then Sam, both filled with enthusiasm. +There were five hoses going within the hour, while another was all the +while directing a powerful stream through the gap forward. Smoke gave +way in time to steam, while the clouds of the latter, which had risen +from every heated surface, and particularly from the vessel's plates, +became far less in quantity. When three hours had passed, the +atmosphere in the hold was almost pleasant, and certainly not too hot +for safe working, while the fire appeared to have been conquered +entirely. Then the ship's head was turned towards the west, and once +again her turbines sent the decks throbbing. They came to Sam and Joe +in the bunks which they occupied and told them of it; for the intense +heat which they had faced, the stifling smoke, and the strenuous fight +they had made had had their natural effect. Both had been hoisted from +the hold in an insensible condition. + +"Eh?" asked Sam. "She's right? Fire under? Then call me late in the +morning. I've never yet travelled first class aboard a ship, and this +bunk's just lovely. Hallo! That Joe? Eh? He's unconscious? Well, I +am sorry; guess there's many a one will say he helped a heap to save +this vessel." + +They slept profoundly side by side, and the sun was high in the heavens +before either opened his eyes. When Joe looked round, it was with a +groan of recognition and remembrance. His hands were blistered all +over and in bandages. His face was smeared with some greasy +preparation, while there no longer trace of eyelashes, eyebrows, or +hair. He was bald--a terrible object--with lips and tongue hugely +swollen. + +"My word," exclaimed Sam, staring at him, "what a sight!" + +Joe giggled. After all, however tired, however sore with a struggle, +he could look on the queer side of things. "My eye!" he gurgled, for +speech was almost impossible. "Just you take a look at yourself; it'll +make you feel downright faint, I do assure you." Then he went off into +a laugh, which ended in a cry of pain and tribulation, for cracked and +swollen lips make laughing painful. As for Sam, he rose in his bunk, +leaned outwards, and stared into the mirror. It was with a groan of +resignation that he threw himself backward, for, like Joe, he was +wonderfully disfigured. + +"The wife wouldn't know me," he said. "What a sight! No wonder you +giggled." + +But time does wonders for sore hearts and sore heads. Five days later, +when the ship put into Quebec, both were moderately presentable, though +Joe still had his hands in bandages. But think of the reward! A +thousand and more disembarked passengers from the steamship _Kansas +City_ awaited their arrival and cheered them to the very echo as they +landed. It was Joe's welcome to Canada, the land wherein he trusted to +make his fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +One of the Settlers + +"Now we get right in to business," said Sam, two days after the ship +had brought them to Quebec, and he and Joe had gradually recovered +their usual appearance. For, till then, they were hardly presentable, +both having had every hair singed from their heads, while Sam, who wore +a moustache, as a rule, merely retained a few straggling ends of that +appendage. As for Joe, his hands were so blistered, that even now he +was able to do little for himself. + +"But you've got something inside there in your pocket that'll make +amends," grinned Sam, as they sat in the parlour of the little hotel to +which Sam had taken his wife, and whither Joe, Jim, and Claude had +accompanied them. "You've got notes in that 'ere pocket that'll make +you ready and eager to get burned again. There! Ain't I speaking the +truth? I'm fair jubilant." + +A cockney from his birth upward, Sam had not, even now, lost touch with +the Old Country and its manner of speech, though into his conversation +there was now habitually pressed many a Canadian slang expression, many +an Americanism which to people of the Old World is so peculiarly +fascinating. He pulled a huge leather wallet from his own hip pocket, +a capacious affair that accommodated quite a mass of material, and was +fellow to one on the far side harbouring a revolver. Not that Sam was +of a pugnacious frame of mind; on the contrary, he was just one of the +numerous citizens of Canada whose daily thoughts were centred in +"making good". Indeed, as is the case with all in the Dominion, with +few exceptions, Sam was out, as he frankly admitted, to make a pile, to +build up a fortune. + +"And I'll tell you for why," he had once said to our hero. "It ain't +only because dollars look nice and can buy nice things. It ain't only +because I'd like to be rich, to put by a heap and feel and know that me +and the missus needn't want when the rainy day comes along, and we're +took by illness or old age. Don't you go and believe it. There's +people will tell you that Canadians think and dream of nothing but +dollars, and jest only for the sake of the dollars. Don't you go and +believe it. They're jest like me; they've been, many a one of 'em, +down on their beam ends in the Old Country--couldn't get work, for one +cause or another. Then they've emigrated, fought their way through, +nearly gone to the wall maybe, and then made good. It's making good +that fascinates us, young feller. Making good! Jest that and mostly +only that. I'd be a proud man if I could put by a pile; for, don't yer +see, it shows as I've succeeded. That's what I and many another are +after. We've been failures, perhaps. We want to show the world that +we're good for something. Dollars spells success--that's why we're +after them all the time." + +But Sam was not pugnacious, as we have observed. He dragged his huge +leather case from one hip pocket and his revolver from the other, +laying both on the table. + +"I always carry a shooter," he said to Joe, "and so'll you after a bit. +The usual run of fellow you come across is a decent, hard-working man. +But this here country's full of 'bad men', as we call 'em. +Ne'er-do-weels, remittance men, as some are known, loafers, and +thieves. A chap as shows he's got sommat to defend himself with has a +good chance of sendin' 'em off; so I carry a shooter. But we was +talking of the stuff you'd got in your pocket, same as me. That makes +up for burned hands." + +Very deliberately he began to count out the values of the flimsy, +blue-backed money notes rolled in his wallet, while Joe dived into an +inner pocket and did likewise. He drew out quite a respectable bundle +and counted the amounts also. + +"Two hundred and fifty dollars," said Sam solemnly. "Reward for work +done aboard the burning ship." + +"Seven hundred and fifty dollars," murmured Joe, blushing when he +thought of the amount. + +"Jest so--reward for pluck and fer gumption," declared Sam. "My, +wasn't you bashful up in the office when we was called in! You was for +refusing almost. Said as you'd done nothing. That ain't the way of +Canadians, lad. You did do good work; it was you who organized the +volunteers and led 'em. That's a deal. It ain't nothing! It helped a +whole heap, and therefore a reward was earned. That's the way in +Canada--but let's get to business. What'll you do?" + +"Act on advice you've already given," said Joe, pocketing his money. +"My idea is to learn farming out here, and some day to take up a +quarter section of land. But I'm going to learn the work first. I +couldn't so much as milk a cow at this moment." + +"Jest so," observed Sam dryly. "That's sense, that is. There's +prosperity in this country, as I've told you often enough, but only for +the workers. There's millions of acres, too, and no fear that if you +wait you'll find none left for you. But where men fail is if they come +out ignorant like you and pitch upon a quarter section when they ain't +got the knowledge to choose their country. Their difficulties would +often enough kill a man with farming knowledge; but, bless you! without +even that knowledge, often enough with precious little money, they goes +under almost afore they've had time to look round. So I say it's sound +advice to you to say, 'Learn the farming work first'. Then take up +your quarter section; for you'll be eighteen by then. Now, New +Ontario's booming. Me and the missus will make there and prospect for +a little. A single man can take a hundred acres in New Ontario for +nothing. So can a married man; while, ef he's got a child under +sixteen years of age, he can have two hundred fer the asking. Any more +that's wanted costs two shillings and a halfpenny an acre. Cheap, +ain't it? Wall, now, we comes again to you. You learn farming this +summer. In the winter, get along into the towns and take most any job; +next summer come right along to us. We'll have fixed a location by +then, and you can take up a holding close handy. We'll get Claude and +Jim in too, with one or two others, and we'll run co-operative farms. +That is, instead of each man having a bunch of hosses, we'll keep +enough for all, and help plough each other's holdings. We'll buy seed +in bulk and get it cheaper fer that reason. And we'll sell our stuff +in the same market, making one doing of the transport--so you come +along next summer." + +"I will," agreed Joe. "I've thought it over a lot, and will do as you +advise; meanwhile, I shall bank most of the money." + +"And mighty wise of you; only, see here," said Sam, his face wrinkling. +"There's money to be made often enough by a wise fellow if only he has +a little capital. With the sixty pounds you brought along, and the +hundred and fifty you've been given, you've a tidy nest egg. Now you +bank most of it, keeping twenty pounds for emergencies. One of these +days, along where you're working, you'll drop on a site where the +railway's approaching, and where there's likely to be a town. Towns +spring up in new countries like mushrooms. Acres bare now, and worth +perhaps two shillings, are worth twenty and thirty and more pounds in +English money within a few years if they gets covered by a town. So, +likely enough, you may drop on sich a place. Then draw the money +you've banked, buy your land, and sit down to wait. Only, don't put +all the money into one holding. Spread it about, young fellow. Don't +put all the eggs into one basket." + +There was little doubt that Sam was perfectly right, indeed, the +experience of huge numbers in the Dominion goes to prove that. Towns +do spring into being almost with the rapidity of mushrooms. A tiny +settlement composed of wooden huts, called "shacks", and perhaps a log +church, may, in the matter of three or four years, develop into a town, +and, later on, even into a city. Those with knowledge and experience, +and possessed of far-seeing eyes, may, by a fortunate purchase in the +early days reap a big reward, and many a one has done so. + +"So that's fixed," said Sam. "And now fer orders. We leaves here +to-morrow fer Sudbury--that's beyond Ottawa. There me and the missus +gets off the train. We'll buy a "rig", as a cart and horse are known, +and we'll make off to the north-west looking fer a holding. You'd +better come along with us to Montreal, where you can switch off fer +Toronto, and look out in that direction fer a farm job, or you can come +right along to or beyond Sudbury. Round Toronto you get Old Ontario, +the country that's been known and settled this many a year. They're +mostly fruit and dairy farmers about Toronto. North-west Ontario, New +Ontario as it's called, is a different country. People kinder missed +it till lately. It wasn't known that it was jest as good as many +another, and no colder. But it's booming now, and there's where you'll +find heaps of men jest wheat-growing. You could, of course, go right +along to Manitoba, getting off at Winnipeg or somewheres close. But +it's wheat-growing land there also; so ef you're going to join up with +us later on you might jest as well stay somewheres near in Ontario." + +Joe put on his cap and went out for a sharp walk. He clambered up the +steep, old-fashioned streets of Quebec, still preserving their old +French houses, to the Plains of Abraham, once the scene of a fierce +engagement between English and French, when the gallant Wolfe won +Canada for our Empire from the equally gallant Montcalm. He looked out +from the heights across the flowing St. Lawrence River to the Isle +d'Orleans, where Wolfe's batteries once thundered against the forts of +Quebec, and past which the fierce Irroquois Indians, in days long since +gone by, paddled their war canoes and kept the French colonists from +crossing. And all the while he debated his future movements, for with +the practical mind that his father had helped to train in him, Joe +wanted to see his way clear. He had his future to make; a false step +now might delay that success at which he aimed, at which, according to +the worthy Sam, all newcomers and old colonists of the Dominion aim. +Let those who would sneer at the seemingly grasping methods of many in +Canada not forget what Sam had to say. Dollars do not spell happiness; +they spell success. The immigrant who has few, if any to speak of, on +arrival, and who fails to make wealth, is a failure, and failure causes +a man to become despondent and to lose self-esteem. But gain, riches +to one who was poor, who broke from old paths, left home and friends +and all to start a new life, dollars in his case spell success, success +that raises his head and his own self-esteem. + +"I'll go along to Sudbury," Joe told himself. "Then I'll look out for +a farm, and I'll bank all the money save fifty dollars. That's it; pay +for my transport, and then bank all but fifty dollars, keeping father's +letter with me." + +The following morning found our hero aboard the train bound for +Sudbury. They occupied places in a long car with two rows of seats, +one on either side. At the far end of the car there was a miniature +kitchen, where a fire was burning in a stove. Others who had crossed +from England were with them, and the party soon settled down to their +journey. Mrs. Fennick, with experience gained by earlier travel, had +provisioned a basket, and with the help of Joe's kit, containing kettle +and teapot, the little party were never at a want for good things to +eat and drink. At night the seats, which were arranged in pairs facing +one another were pulled out, making a respectable couch for one person, +while the negro attendant lowered other bunks hinged to the side walls +of the enormous car high overhead. + +Late the following day the train pulled up at Sudbury, and they got +down. Then Joe, Claude, and Jim waited till the Fennicks had bought a +rig and had set out on their journey, when they, too, shouldered their +bundles and strode off along the track, out of the town and into the +open country. An hour or more later his two companions had accepted an +engagement with a farmer whom they met driving along the track. Joe +bade farewell to his two chums and strode onward. + +"I'll make away more into the open," he told himself. "I'll get away +from the settlements, so as to see what the life is really like, and +whether the loneliness is so irksome as some make out." + +Trudging along contentedly, he had covered some miles by noon, and then +sat down to devour his luncheon. All that day he tramped, and the +following one also, spending the night in the open; for it was +beautiful weather, and frosts had long since departed from the land. +Here and there he came upon settlements, and many a time was employment +offered him, for the busy season with farmers was at hand, and labour +always scarce. Sometimes he passed isolated farms, and on the third +night put up in the shack of a settler who had little cause to complain +of his progress. + +"Came out as a youngster," he told Joe. "Took jobs here and there for +four years, and then applied for a quarter section. It happened to be +free from trees, though there was many an old rotting stump in the +ground. I ploughed a quarter of the acreage the first year and secured +a fine crop. Next year I did better, and broke up still more ground. +If things go along nicely I shall do well, while already the section is +worth some hundreds of dollars. Am I lonely? Don't you think it! +I've too much doing in summertime and sufficient in winter. The chaps +as is lonely are those who've lived in towns all their lives, and are +used to people buzzing about them, and to trains and trams. They want +to go to a theatre or a picture entertainment most every night, and +having none about find things lonesome. I don't. If I want company I +get the rig and drive off to a neighbour, or use the sleigh if the +snow's too deep. Then there's a moose hunt at times, while always +there's work to be done--tending the cattle, feeding the pigs and +poultry, sawing logs, and suchlike. In summer there's picnics with the +neighbours--shooting and fishing too at times. No, I ain't lonely." + +Joe left his hospitable roof and pressed on towards the north-west, +with his back to the railway. And a little later he came upon a small +settlement, with farms immediately adjacent. Here he had no difficulty +in obtaining work as a farm hand, the payment to be ten dollars a month +and his board and keep. + +"Know anything?" asked his employer, a man of some forty years of age, +a colonial born, to whom Joe soon took a liking. + +"Know anything about farming?" repeated Peter Strike, the man in +question. + +"Nothing," was Joe's answer, with an accompanying shake of the head. + +"Never farmed, eh?" + +"Never; couldn't milk a cow." + +"Yer don't say so," grinned the farmer. "Now you'll do, you will, +fine." + +Joe was at a loss to understand. It seemed somewhat curious to him to +hear that a hand engaged on a farm would do well when it was known that +he was utterly ignorant. He explained the difficulty. + +"Of course you don't understand," said Peter, guffawing loudly; for +Joe's open speaking delighted him. "Of course you don't, 'cos back in +England a man would be expected to know everything. But I'll tell you +how it is with us. You're English; wall, now, in past years Englishmen +got such a name with us colonials that we wouldn't employ him if we +could help it. Eh? You'd like to know why? That's easy. Your +Englishman would reach here dressed in knickers, perhaps--a regular +swell. Us colonials with our old clothing would be fair game for him. +Then he'd know everything. He'd be wanting to do things as he'd done +'em back in his own country, and not as we've learned they has to be +done here. He'd want to teach his master, and grumble--my word, +nothing pleased him! Now that's all getting altered. We find +immigrants readier to learn, and you're one of 'em. Mind you, there's +faults with others besides the Englishman who knows everything. +There's faults with us. There's a sight of colonials who think they +know more than they do, and when they get having advice from a man +fresh out to the country--why, they get testy. It makes 'em angry. +They ain't too fair to the newcomer. But guess that's getting altered, +as I've said. Anyway, you don't know anything, ain't that it?" + +"Nothing," laughed Joe; for the open-hearted Peter amused him. + +"Then you come along in and see the missus and the children. +Afterwards there's a job for you." + +Joe was introduced to Peter's family circle, consisting of his wife and +four small children. He found the shack to contain three rooms, a +somewhat liberal allowance. + +"Most of 'em has but one or two," explained Peter. "A man who has to +be his own house builder can't afford too much time for fixing rooms. +However, I made two, the kitchen here and the bedroom. Later on I +built a lean-to, making an extra room. That'll be for you. Now we'll +feed. Like beans and bacon?" + +"Anything," said Joe heartily. "I've had a long tramp and am hungry. +This fine air gives one an appetite." + +"It's jest the healthiest place you could strike anywhere," cried +Peter, his face glowing. "We've been here this four years. I bought +the section from a man who had broken most of it and then got tired. +You see, we've prairie all round, save for the settlement close handy. +They say that the railway'll soon be along here. Anyway, there's no +muskegs (swamps) hereabouts, and therefore no mosquitoes to speak of." + +"He don't know what's a muskeg," laughed Mrs. Strike. "Tell him." + +"It's a swamp, that's all," came the answer, "and there's miles of them +in Canada. Often enough they're covered with low bush and with forests +of rotting trees that ain't worth nothing as timber. But here we've +open prairie, with plenty of wood, and huge forests at a little +distance; so it's healthy. Now, you come along out and fix this job," +he said, when Joe had finished the meal and had swallowed a cup of tea. +"I'm so busy I haven't had time to see to a number of things, specially +since my man was taken ill and left. There's the pigsty, for instance; +it wants cleaning out. You jest get in at it." + +Joe had long since donned his colonial outfit. He wore a slouch hat, +with which no one could find a fault save for its obvious newness. An +old pair of trousers covered his legs, and thick, nailed boots were on +his feet. His jacket he had carried over his arm, and it was now +reposing with his baggage, while a thick brown shirt and a somewhat +discoloured red handkerchief completed his apparel. He followed Peter +to an outhouse, and found at the back a range of wooden pigsties which +might, with truth, be said to be in an extremely unsavoury condition. +There was a fork and a spade near at hand, together with an old tin +bucket. + +"Right," he said briskly, turning up the ends of his trousers; "I'll +make a job of it. I should say that a chap who had no knowledge of +farming could do this as well as any other. I'll come along when I've +finished." + +Peter stood watching his new hand for some few moments, and then strode +off out of sight. Joe turned his sleeves up, climbed into the sty, and +set to work with a will. + +"Not an overnice job," he told himself, "but then it's part of farming +work. If I turn up my nose at this sort of thing and think myself too +good for it--why, that would be a nice sort of beginning! Someone has +to clean the sties on a farm. I'm the labourer, and so it's my job." + +His jovial whistle could be heard in the shack as he worked, and +brought Mrs. Strike to the door with an infant in her arms. + +"Why, it's the new hand," she told her husband. "He's whistling, as if +he liked the job you'd given him. Now I think that was a little hard. +You can see as Joe's a better sort of lad. He's had an education, and +I wouldn't wonder if he was something in the Old Country. And you put +him right off to clean out the sty." + +She regarded her lord and master with some severity; but the latter +only grinned. Peter had a most taking face; in fact, his features were +seldom severe, and more often than not wore a smile. He was a tall, +burly man, with broad shoulders and long limbs. Possessed of fair hair +and of a peaked beard, he was quite a handsome fellow, though +wonderfully neglected as to his raiment. Indeed, contrasting Joe and +Peter, one would have said offhand that the latter was the labourer and +Joe the owner of the property. + +But that is just the curious part of things outside the settlements in +Canada. The more patched a man's garments, the more probable it is +that he is successful. A colonist is not there judged by his fellows +because of his clothing. He is judged by results--results of his +labours on the soil or his astuteness in business. Compare this with +England, where fine clothes make fine birds, where appearance is of so +much importance, and do not let us sneer at either people. Custom has +brought either condition about, and no doubt with good reason. + +As for Peter, he was grinning widely as his wife turned somewhat +sharply upon him. + +"You've given him right off the nastiest job, and he quite green," she +said. + +"And I've done so with a reason," laughed Peter. "There's men I have +hired before who had obviously seen something better back where they +came from. They would have kicked at doing that sty. They would have +forgotten that their old life was nothing to me, and that they were +seeking their living in this country. Their old pride would be too +much for 'em, and I would have to suffer. Now a chap who comes out +here has to drop pride. If he's ignorant, he oughtn't to be above +starting right at the bottom. I like hearing that lad whistling; he +ain't too proud to earn an honest living, even if the job is what it +is." + +"Hallo!" he called, coming over to Joe some half-hour later and looking +into the sty. "How're you doing?" + +"Fine," said our hero, borrowing an expression somewhat common in the +Dominion. "Almost finished." + +"Then you've been mighty slippy," admitted Peter, his eyes opening when +he saw that our hero had indeed almost finished the task. "This lad'll +do for me," Peter said to himself. "He works, he does. He's the kind +of fellow who likes to get ahead, whether he's working for another or +for himself. My, if he ain't washing the place down now!" + +Evidently his new hand was cleanly also, and that was pleasing. Peter +began to think that in gaining Joe's services he had made quite a +bargain. + +"That'll fix it right, lad," he sang out. "You've made a fine job of +it. Jest you hop out now, and put the fork and spade back where you +found 'em. It's yer first lesson in farming and in other things." + +Joe looked up smiling. "Eh?" he said. + +"Yes," went on Peter, "Mrs. Strike's been pitching into me for giving +you such a job first off; but I wanted to see for meself whether you'd +kick, or whether you meant to get on whatever came along. Reckon +you'll do--now come along in and feed the hosses." + +When a month had passed, Joe found another ten dollars added to the +fifty he had kept by him; also he had settled down wonderfully with the +Strikes, and was already getting along with his farm work. + +"He's a treasure is that lad," admitted Mrs. Strike warmly, when she +and her husband were alone one evening. "It don't matter what it is +that's wanted, he'll do it. If it's one of the children to mind, he'll +smile and wink at the bairn. If it's water for the shack, he's +willing. And if it's a log for the stove, he jest takes the saw and +goes off whistling. That lad'll get along in the world." + +"He's fine," agreed Peter. "He's the sort we want out from the Old +Country." + +Whether he was or not, Joe had taken kindly to the new life, without a +shadow of doubt. His attentive mind was constantly absorbing details +from the garrulous Peter or from his neighbours, and the end of that +month's service on the farm had taught him quite a smattering of the +profession he was to follow. As for being lonely, that he certainly +was not; he was almost too busy even to have time for thinking of such +a matter. Then, too, there were neighbours, while each shack actually +possessed a telephone. However, if there were monotony in the life he +was living, it was not long before an exciting incident occurred that +would have aroused anyone even more lethargic than our hero. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Canadian Bad Man + +"You jest put the hosses into the rig and make along to Hurley's," said +Peter, Joe's employer, one early morning when the land was already +ploughed, harrowed, and sown, and there was little to do but tend the +animals and await the growth of the wheat crop, upon which Peter +anticipated so much. "And don't stop longer than you need, lad. He's +a bad man is Hurley, one of England's ne'er-do-weels, who came out +years ago, and has now taken to farming. I've lent him a seeder this +two seasons, and he hasn't returned it. Jest hitch it on to the back +of the rig and bring it along." + +"And you can take something from me along to Mrs. Hurley," said Peter's +wife, who was one of those kind-hearted colonists one so often meets. +"She's a poor, down-trodden thing, and most like she doesn't have too +many of the good things. Here's butter for her, and eggs, and a leg of +pork." + +Joe was by now quite an adept at the management of the rig, and soon +had his horses harnessed in, an operation of which he had been +supremely ignorant before his arrival. He mounted into the cart, +having placed Mrs. Strike's basket there already, cracked the whip, and +went off across the prairie track between the ploughed acres already +sprouting into greenness. + +Hurley's quarter section was a matter of four miles away, and Joe had +met the man only once before. But already something of his reputation +had reached his ears, and Joe had gathered that amongst a farming class +of industrious fellows this Hurley was looked at askance. + +"He's a bully, and a sullen bully with it all," Peter had said once +before. "He don't keep a hand more'n a month, as a general rule, while +I reckon the boy as he has apprenticed to him has none too good a time. +Hurley's a man I don't take to." + +Bearing all this in mind, Joe whipped up his horses and took them at a +smart pace across the fields. On every hand lay wooded country, with +clearings to right and left, where the industry of the settlers had +felled the trees, paying toll to the Government of Canada for them, and +had then rooted the land, broken it, and placed therein the seed which +was to spring into such bounteous growth. In every case a log hut was +erected somewhere on the quarter section, consisting of one hundred and +sixty acres; and these log huts often enough disclosed from their +outward lines something of the character of the inmates, for in one +case the shack was barely twelve feet by twelve. + +"Jim Canning's," Joe told himself, for he had met Jim and liked him. +"A confirmed old bachelor; been in Canada for ten years and more, and +seems to like living by himself. He's a jovial fellow. Hallo, Jim!" +he shouted, seeing that worthy crossing his section towards him. +"How'dy." + +Observe the expression, and gather the fact that even his own short +residence in the Dominion had already caused Joe to copy those who +lived about him. He was becoming quite a Canadian in his speech. +Already one could detect something of that pleasant drawl that marks +the sturdy colonial. + +"Hallo, Joe!" shouted the stranger, beaming at our hero and disclosing +handsome features, sunburned to a degree, while even his chest was of a +deep brown; for Jim wore no collar, and had discarded the customary +neckcloth. He was, in fact, a tattered-looking object--a huge patch in +the seat of his trousers, a shirt which might have been blue or green +or red in its palmy days, but which was now of a curious brown, +evidently from much exposure to the sun. "How'dy," he cried. "Where +away?" + +"Hurley's, fetching a seeder." + +"Huh! Then you look lively back agin," came the answer. "There's +ructions down there. Hurley's been fighting with his hands, and though +I believe they've settled the quarrel for the time bein', you never +know when it won't break out again; he ain't no use ain't Hurley." + +They waved to one another and then parted, Joe jogging along the rough +track, now with the wheels on one side deep in an old rut, which +threatened to upset the rig, and then bumping over boulders and tree +stumps, which made riding anything but comfortable. But what cared +Joe? He whistled shrilly; his face was rosy and tanned, his eyes +clear, his broad-brimmed hat thrust back on his head, till a lock of +hair showed to the front. Nor could his own clothing be very +favourably contrasted with Jim's; for Joe's shirt had a large rent in +it, made that very morning. A portion of the brim of his hat was +missing, while the ends of his trousers were threadbare, to say the +least of them. + +"Clothing don't make the man, anyhow," Peter had said many a time. +"You ain't any the wuss fer a rent in yer breeks." + +"Hallo, Joe!" came a hail across from another quarter section. "How's +the Strikes?" + +Joe shouted back a greeting, and was soon exchanging others with +farmers farther on. Indeed, he called at one of the shacks, a +magnificent affair, showing the pluck and ability of its owner. It +belonged to a city clerk from the city of London, one who had been +ignorant of farming conditions, and when Joe was last in this direction +it was not entirely finished. + +"I thought I'd just drop in and see the house," he said, as he pulled +up at the door. "It wouldn't have been neighbourly to have passed +without a call." + +"That it wouldn't," laughed a small but active lady, who emerged and +shook hands with him. "Hi, Jack, here's Mr. Joe come to see us! Isn't +the shack a beauty, just?" + +She stood away from the shack, regarding it with a proud eye. And Joe +eagerly extolled its magnificence; for this city clerk had built a +house which none need be ashamed of. + +"Not bad by half, eh?" he grinned, as he came up to Joe. "My cousin, +who's farming with me, gave a hand. There's four rooms inside, and a +covered way to the stables and the piggeries. It's cost us a heap of +labour, but it's done now, and mighty pleased we are. How's the +Strikes? Crops showing well, eh? We're doing fine; and the wife is +making money with her fowls and eggs and such things. My boy, I +wouldn't be back on an office stool for double the pay. I'm free +here--free, my boy! I can breathe out in this country. And look at +the kids--they're as healthy as we could wish." + +Joe took in his surroundings with an observant eye, and heartily +congratulated his friends. Here he saw before him an example of what a +man from a city can do in the Dominion, if only he have the pluck and +the tenacity to face the difficulties and disappointments which are +sure to come along at first, and have the perseverance to work. + +"How did you manage?" he asked Jack, the owner of the place. + +"Manage! Well, now, like this. I was ill back in the Old Country, and +I'll say this for the people who employed me--they treated me +handsomely. They paid my salary for a whole year; then the doctor +recommended Canada, and out we came, drawing all our savings. Tom, my +cousin, had been here four years working on the farms, and we went into +partnership right away. Of course I knew nothing. I trusted to him, +and I've learned steadily. It's been uphill work, my boy. But there +you are." + +He held out an open palm towards the house, eyeing it with supreme +satisfaction. And no wonder. Here was a man who through ill-health +had failed, more or less, in England. Canada had given him a new lease +of life and new opportunities. But let us remember that the Dominion +gives nothing without effort on the side of immigrants. Jack had +worked--his elaborate shack showed that distinctly--while he had been +aided and abetted by a clever wife who fell in at once with the ways of +the country, who did not grumble because she was far outside a town, +but set to work to master the intricacies of chicken rearing, or butter +making, and a thousand and one things, hidden arts to her till that +moment. And the result was success--success and happiness. + +Joe shouted a farewell, promised to call in for a meal on his way back, +and again whipped up his horses. In half an hour the rough track and +his rig brought him to the door of the Hurleys, a tumble-down shack, +showing obvious slackness on the part of the owner; and as he climbed +out of the rig he heard cries and shouts coming from the interior of +the shack. + +"A ruction," he told himself. "Perhaps I'd better wait; other people's +quarrels have nothing to do with me." + +He paused half in and half out of the rig for a little while, till, of +a sudden, the door of the shack flew open, and a lad some fifteen years +of age dashed out. After him came a burly, bearded fellow, whose +knitted brows and scowling face showed that he was in a temper. There +was a whip in his hand, and no sooner was he out of the door than he +sent the lash curling about the flanks of the lad who had preceded him, +causing the latter to give vent to a cry of pain and to take cover by +the rig. Then Hurley--for he it was--swung round on our hero. + +"Huh!" he growled, drawing in the slack of his lash. "What do you +want? You ain't been asked here. Clear off!" + +Joe dropped from the rig and stepped a pace nearer. "I've come for +Peter Strike's seeder," he said. + +"Strike! Eh? You get off!" came the furious answer, for it seemed as +if Joe's arrival had increased the anger of the individual. "You get +right off, or I'll give yer strike jest as I'm a-going to do with this +little rascal. Come you here, Tom; I'll learn you to leave the door of +the stable open of a night and have all the cattle treading over the +corn. You ain't coming? Then I'll have to fetch you." + +The huge bully bore down upon the trembling lad he had addressed, and +who seemed too scared to move. He cowered by the side of the rig till +Hurley was upon him, and was then dragged towards the door of the shack. + +"What! You ain't gone?" growled Hurley, seeing that Joe had made no +movement, but stood beside the rig regarding him, and gripping the butt +of his whip. "Ef you ain't away in a jiffy, I'll give you summat of +the same too." + +"You'll give me the seeder first," said Joe, keeping his temper, and +showing an unflinching front, "and then you'll take your hands off Tom. +Even if he did leave the stable door open, he's sorry, no doubt, and +there's no excuse for treating him so badly. I'd be ashamed if I was a +big fellow the same as you." + +Hurley let his lower jaw drop with amazement, showing a set of +irregular teeth which were all discoloured. He almost foamed at the +mouth, while his eyes narrowed with anger and seemed to disappear +within their sockets. Joe could see the fingers of his one free hand +crushed into the palm, while the man's muscles hardened and stood out +prominently under the skin of his arm. He bellowed when he answered. + +"So you'd like to concern yourself with things that ain't got nothing +to do with you," he shouted. "You're one of the green chaps from over +the water that thinks things out here should be run as if the boys was +dressed in silk, and every one of them mammy's darlings. I'm going to +lick this kid, and when I'm done, if you ain't gone, I'll give you a +hiding jest the same." + +Joe began to gather the fact that he was in for trouble, and debated +what he ought to do. There may be some who, under similar +circumstances, would have clambered into the rig and driven off; but +few, very few we imagine. Joe, at any rate, was not to be numbered +with them; he clenched the hand not gripping his whip and watched to +see what happened. And Hurley did not keep him long waiting. He took +the boy Tom by the scruff of his neck, forced him against the doorpost +of the shack, and proceeded to bind him to it with a length of cord. + +"That'll do," said Joe curtly, walking towards him. "Let that lad go!" + +"Eh? Why, ef I don't think you're mad!" declared the bully, opening +his mouth in amazement. Indeed, he never once thought seriously that +our hero would interpose between him and his victim. For Hurley stood +six feet in his socks, and was burly and heavy. Joe perhaps topped the +measure at five feet nine, and wanted to fill out a great deal yet +before he could compare with this fellow. If he had any advantage over +such a man, and that was an extremely doubtful point, it lay in his +activity. Joe was light and "nippy" on his feet. In the boxing ring +he could dodge round his opponent till the latter was exhausted almost +in his efforts to force the battle. Hurley, however, was heavy and fat +and unwieldy; besides, the bully's face bore abundant evidence of +indulgence. There were heavy lines beneath the eyes; the healthy tan +and colour of the average colonist who works in the open was +conspicuous by its absence, and instead his face was deadly pale. His +deep and rapid breathing, too, told of his soft condition. + +"He'd smash me like an egg," Joe told himself. "This is going to be a +nasty business. But I can't, I really can't back out of it. Look +here, Hurley," he said, attempting to reason with the angry man, "leave +Tom alone. You know better than I do that your neighbours would never +stand seeing you knocking him about. Bullying don't go down out in +these parts." + +There came a roar from Hurley. Reason was thrown away on the maddened +ruffian, and if only the truth had been known, he had imbibed a +sufficiency of liquor that morning to account for a great deal of +violence. Indeed, this was a habit which had grown with him, and which +spelled ruin to his farming and to the happiness of his home. The +veins in his bull-like neck swelled out prominently, then he launched +himself at Joe, and, swinging the whip overhead, sent the lash coiling +about his face. Our hero answered with a rapidity that must have been +startling. He dashed in with the quickness of lightning and brought +the butt end of his whip handle down with a crash on the middle of +Hurley's head. A minute later they were locked in one another's arms +and engaged in a desperate struggle. Hurley gripped Joe round the +shoulders, compressing his chest and arms. Then Joe managed to wrench +his right fist free, and without a particle of hesitation sent it again +and again into the bully's face, till blood streamed down upon him, +while Hurley shouted and foamed with rage, and strained as if he would +crush the life out of his youthful antagonist. His breath came in +gasps, so great were his exertions. His eyes were bloodshot, and +altogether he wore anything but a taking appearance. + +"Now, let me go, and end the matter," said Joe, keeping his wits, and +pressing the man away from him as far as possible. + +"Not till I've half-killed you," came the grunting answer. "I'll learn +you to interfere; I'll break yer back, young feller." + +And thereupon he proceeded to attempt to put that plan into execution. +He lifted Joe as if he were a feather, swung him round and hurled him +against the shack, jarring the breath out of his body. It was only +with a great effort that our hero kept his senses and struggled to hold +an upright position, then, just as he had got his breath again, the man +was on him. Joe let out with his right and left fists in quick +succession, getting home on the bully's face on each occasion. Then, +stooping quickly, he picked up his whip, and, gripping the handle +again, brought the butt heavily across Hurley's head, sending the man +staggering backward. Indeed, the fellow seemed to be incapable of +further exertion, for he rested his back against the shack and stood +there panting. + +Joe went to the boy at once, cut the rope which bound him, and pointed +to the shack. + +"Get your traps at once," he said, "then climb into the rig. I'll take +you along with me." + +He turned once more to see what was happening to Hurley, and was only +just in time to spring aside, and thereby escape a sweeping blow from a +heavy fork handle with which the ruffian had armed himself. + +"I'll show you who's master," shouted the fellow, his beard bristling +with rage, his hat fallen from his head, and his clothing all awry. +"I'll show you who's winner here, I will. I'll brain you before I've +done with you." + +Up went his formidable stick again, to be swung over his head; then +with a rush he advanced on Joe. But the latter dodged behind the rig, +and for a while attacker and attacked were separated. Joe, in fact, +could have retired. But there was the lad Tom to be considered, for at +this moment he emerged from the shack, a huge bundle under his arm. + +"Go back, right in," bellowed Hurley. "I'll finish you too if you're +not careful. Go right in; I'll give you what you've earned when I've +done with this cub. Eh? You ain't going to?" + +The smallest hesitation on the part of Tom was sufficient to send the +blood again rushing to the face of the bully. He looked a terrible +object as he sprang at the boy, and there is little doubt that he would +have done him a serious injury, had not Joe again pluckily come to the +rescue. Darting out from behind the rig, he was just in time to catch +the end of the stout handle which Hurley wielded as it swung back over +his shoulder. Then, with a howl of rage, the brute turned on him. + +"You again!" he shouted. "Then that for you! That, and that, and +that!" + +He rained blows on our hero, one catching him across the shoulder and +almost felling him. The remaining two he was lucky enough to escape by +leaping aside. But he realized that such an attack could not last for +ever, nor was he likely to escape another time. It was with a quick +movement, therefore, that he closed with Hurley. His fists went crash +into the man's face, and then they were once more locked together. But +here the bully had all the advantage, and his strength was increased by +the rage he felt. It mattered little to him that Tom, with a pluck +that did him credit, seized Joe's whip and struck his tormentor over +the head time and again. Hurley did not seem to feel the blows; all +his frantic rage was concentrated on Joe. + +"I'm a-going to kill you right out," he grunted. "I'll larn you to +come interfering with me and mine." + +He swung Joe upward clear of the ground and then hurled him downward, +once again driving the breath out of Joe's body. But he was not +defeated. The lad had more pluck than strength, to give him his due, +as, gasping for breath, he rose swiftly and once more tackled his +opponent. Reaching forward, he planted a heavy blow in Hurley's face, +and contrived to spring away before the man could seize him. + +"Go in again! Punch him for all you can!" shouted Tom, taking an +active interest now in the proceedings, and dodging round the +combatants, as if he were seeking another opportunity to strike his +tormentor. "Watch him, though; he's got that stick again. If I'd a +gun I'd shoot him." + +"You would, would you?" growled Hurley, his head down, his neck sunk +into his shoulders, and a demoniacal expression on his face. "You'd +shoot me, young feller? But I'll deal with you in a while. Maybe I'll +kill you. This fool here I will, sure as eggs." + +He spat into his hands and gripped his stake again. As for Joe, had he +been armed with a revolver, there is little doubt but that he would +have made good use of the weapon; for if ever a man looked murderous it +was Hurley. More than that, had Joe but known what the interior of the +shack disclosed, and been armed, he would have fired at this ruffian +without a second's hesitation; for Hurley's attack on Tom was not his +only act of brutality on this eventful morning. He had begun to bully +the boy an hour ago, in spite of his unhappy wife's appeal, and when +she had at length endeavoured to intervene, he had struck her +insensible. That was the class of ruffian our hero had to deal with. +A glance at his face, at his gaping lips, his firm-clenched teeth, and +his bristling beard showed that his mental condition approached +madness. And now, having regained his breath in some measure, he fixed +his eye on Joe and rushed at him as a bull would at one who had roused +his anger. + +"Watch him!" shouted Tom again, as if the warning were actually needed. +"Here, let's run for it." + +But it was too late to think of that. Besides, Joe had his master's +property to consider. He stood his ground, therefore, and held up a +warning hand. + +"I warn you to desist," he shouted. "I have done you no wrong, but +have prevented you from ill-treating this boy. You are much older than +I am, and should know what the end of this will be. Then, stand off." + +"Stand off, and know that you've interfered? Not me!" came the +growling answer. "Besides, I know how the thing's going to end. I'm +going to kill you sure for being fool enough to interfere with other +people." + +Hurley waited for no more. He had paused as Joe held up a hand and +spoke; but now he hurled himself forward, and struck out blindly with +his stake. As for Joe, he stepped aside and dealt the man a swinging +blow behind the ear as he passed him; but it was his last effort. The +fight was too unequal, for here was a man armed with a long stake and +able to reach him with it. Up went the formidable weapon again, and +when it fell Joe's head was beneath it. He fell with a crash and lay +quite motionless. As for Tom, he dropped his bundle and went off at a +run towards the nearest quarter section, shouting for help at the top +of his voice. + +"That's what I call justice," growled Hurley, looking at the result of +his violence. "I promised I'd knock him out, and I've done it. Now +for the next business. This row'll put the North-west Police on me, +and the neighbours'll be only too ready to join in. I'll hook it." + +He went to Joe and bent deliberately over his unconscious figure, and +then, with the hand of one who had obviously had experience, he ran +through his pockets. When he rose again he was tucking away within his +coat the roll of bills which represented all our hero's savings, added +to the small fund he had kept out of the bank, and in addition the +precious envelope which Joe's father had left to him. + +"Sixty-five dollars free," growled Hurley. "That's a windfall, seeing +that there's scarce a cent in the shack. It'll do for the time being. +Here's an envelope--valuables, perhaps. I'll look into it later. Now, +I'll cut this farming and be off." + +Hurley was a cool ruffian, even if at times he was violent. He entered +the shack, and emerged after some five minutes carrying a bundle of +clothes and a rifle. Then he mounted the rig, having previously picked +up the whip which Joe had used, cracked it, and set off down the track +in the direction of the railway. He left the figure of Joe Bradley +lying motionless and forlorn on the very ground, where he had made such +a brave fight to protect a lad little younger than himself against the +attack of a hulking bully. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Into the Backwoods + +"Jest you sit right up and take a sip at this. Now then, head back; +make a try, lad. It'll pull you round; time's pressing." + +[Illustration: PETER AND JACK BAILEY FIND JOE UNCONSCIOUS] + +Joe heard the voice afar off and stirred. There was a familiar note +about it, a kindly bluntness to which he was accustomed. So being the +sort of lad whose nature it was to make an effort always, if only for +the reason that he was of a decidedly active temperament, and perhaps +also because he hated, like many another person, to be beaten, he +lifted his head, feeling at once a hand placed beneath it. Then he +opened his eyes and stared upward, blinking all the while, at a huge +expanse of blue sky such as dwellers by the edge of the Mediterranean +rave about. + +"Eh?" he gasped, attempting to moisten his lips. "Time to get up, eh?" + +"Jest take a sip, and then you'll be feeling lively," he heard again in +the well-known voice. "You ain't knocked out altogether. That thar +Hurley ain't quite beaten you, I guess." + +The mention of the bully's name brought Joe to an upright position. He +sat up abruptly, and then, seeing a tin mug just before his face, and +being consumed by a terrible thirst, seized the said tin mug and +drained it. + +"Ah!" he gasped. "I wanted that. Where's Hurley?" + +"That's jest the very question we're axin' ourselves. Sit up agin, +lad," he heard, undoubtedly in Peter Strike's voice. He turned at once +and gazed into the rough, unshaved face of his master. + +"You?" he asked in bewilderment. "Why, I left you way back at the +shack!" + +"So you did, lad, so you did; but that's two hours ago, and perhaps +more. I was out lookin' at the pigs, and thinkin' as the time was +coming close when I'd drive some of 'em over to Sudbury, where I'd be +sure to make dollars on 'em, when the missus comes rushin' out. +'Peter,' she shouts, 'where have you got to? Drat the man!' she says +aloud to herself, 'drat the man! Where's he got to? Never here when I +want him, but--ah, there you be!' she hollers out, suddenly catching a +view of me over by the pigs. 'There you be, Peter.'" + +Joe sat up with a vengeance now. His stay with the excellent Peter and +Mrs. Strike had taught him to like them very much, and Peter's +description of what had happened was so faithful to what must have +actually occurred. Joe himself had heard the bustling spouse of his +master calling her lord in peremptory tones, and he grinned now at the +recollection. + +"Yes," he smiled, "you were there." + +"I was that," laughed Peter. "And then I heard that there had been a +ruction, and that you was in it. Of course I slipped into the shack +fer my gun at once, hopped on to a hoss, and was away fer Jim Canning's +in a jiffy. He'd got his hosses harnessed into the rig already, and we +went on in company till we struck along by Jack Bailey's. Wall, now, +he's a bright lad is Jack, though he ain't so very long from an office +stool in London. There he was with his cousin George, with the rig +loaded up with provisions. + +"'Most like we'll be away from home a bit,' sang out Jack as we come +up. 'So we've put together a little grub and drink, besides a kettle +and sichlike. What'll you do?' + +"'Get right along to Hurley's and see what's happened,' I answered. +'This Tom's come in in a hurry, and maybe things ain't as bad as they +seem. Anyway, we'll make along there. I'll gallop ahead. I've rung +up the central station Sudbury, and told the missus to call for the +North-west Police, because this job's bound to be a police job anyway.' +Wall, here we are. How's yerself?" + +Peter had filled his tin mug again, and when he offered it to Joe the +lad took it with pleasure. He could sit up alone now, and presently +could actually stand, though he felt giddy. However, they brought a +chair from Hurley's shack and placed him in it. Then Jack Bailey, the +immigrant who not so long ago had been a clerk in the city of London, +and who was now on the high road to becoming a successful farmer in the +Dominion, stood over him and gently dressed the wound Hurley had given. + +"Not so bad, after all," he said cheerily, as he carefully washed the +part where the bully's stick had fallen. "Little more than an inch +long, and not deep. It won't even send you to bed. Just stay still +while I clip the hair away and tidy things up a little." + +For ten minutes he busied himself with Joe's head, snipping the hair +away all round the ugly wound which Hurley had given our hero; for your +city clerk is no fool, and Jack knew that no scalp wound can be safely +left unless the hair be removed and thorough cleanliness thus ensured. +He produced a little roll of strapping which his thoughtful wife had +provided, and, having placed a small dressing over the wound, applied +the strips of strapping, getting them to adhere by the simple expedient +of lighting a match and heating the adhesive material. + +"Now you'll do," he said, surveying his work with some pride. "How do +you feel? Giddy, eh?" + +Joe felt distinctly giddy and positively sick; for a concussion is +often followed by sickness. But he was game, and fought down the +feeling heroically; in fact, he struggled to his feet, plunged his +hands into his pockets, and actually whistled. + +"Showing as you ain't beaten by a long way," said Peter, emerging from +the shack and looking with approval at our hero. But there were grave +lines about his face, and for a little while he was in close and +earnest conversation with his friends. Perhaps an hour later a +horseman came galloping towards them, and was hailed with pleasure. + +"That you, Mike?" sang out Peter. "I sent along over the 'phone for +you, and guessed it wouldn't take you long to reach." + +"Horse was already saddled, and me almost mounted when the message +came," replied the newcomer, dropping out of his saddle. "I was jest +off in the opposite direction, so it war lucky you 'phoned jest then. +I rode down to the station, and put horse and self aboard a freighter +about to steam out. They dropped me down about opposite here, and I've +legged it for all I could. What's the tale?" + +A magnificent specimen of humanity he was, this newcomer. Even Joe was +not so sick that he could not admire him. For Mike Garner stood six +feet in his stockinged feet, nothing less, and was burly in proportion; +also he seemed to be as agile as a cat, while none could accuse him of +fatness. + +His muscular calves filled the soiled and stained butcher boots he +wore. A pair of massive thighs swelled his khaki breeches, while the +dun-coloured shirt was stretched tight over a brawny chest, open at the +neck, and with sleeves rolled to the elbows, exposing a pair of arms +tanned to the colour of nut-brown, and swelling with muscle and sinew. +In fact, Mike was just a specimen of that fine body of men, the +North-west Police of Canada, who, in spite of paucity of numbers, keep +law and order in the land. But it is only fair to mention that out in +the settlements their task is simple, as a general rule; for your +newcomer to Canada, as well as the old settlers, are law-abiding +people, given to toil and thrift and not to broiling. However, here +and there there is trouble, and Mike had galloped over to investigate +the case of Hurley. + +"What's the tale?" he asked abruptly, dropping his reins over the big +horse's neck and leaving it there unattended, while he came towards the +shack rolling a cigarette. "Hurley's broken out, you say. Guessed he +might. I've had an eye on him this two years back. There's been +complaints of ructions at the shack. We had a man in a month back who +said he'd been knocked about." + +"It's wuss this time," answered Peter gravely. "I'll give yer the yarn +in a few words. I sent this here chap Joe over to fetch a seeder +Hurley had borrowed two years ago and hadn't returned. Wall, he heard +shouts as he come up to the shack, and saw Hurley whacking Tom here, +the lad he'd got apprenticed to him. Joe wasn't having that, nohow. +Eh?" + +He looked over at our hero as if for corroboration. Then Tom chimed in. + +"Hurley's a bully," he cried. "He was tying me to the post when Joe +asked him to leave off. He was polite, was Joe. But Hurley swore and +threatened him too. Then he struck at him, and there was a shindy. +My, but Joe stuck to his man and hammered him in fine style! If it +hadn't been for the rake handle, Joe would have beat him, big though +Hurley is. But he struck Joe over the head, and then I ran for help." + +"Seems to me as this here Joe did well," declared Mike curtly. "Wall, +now?" + +"There ain't much to tell. Tom reached Jim Canning's, and he rang me +up. We was all of us along here as quick as possible. Hurley took the +rig and drove off, and there ain't a doubt that he's taken a gun with +him. He cleared Joe's pockets of every cent--about sixty dollars, he +reckons--as well as a letter of some value. But that ain't all. +There's been trouble in the shack. That ere brute set upon his wife +and made an end of her." + +When the whole tale came to be understood, there was little doubt that +the brute Hurley had flown into a furious temper, and had become almost +mad with passion. His unfortunate wife he had killed with a knock-down +blow, while the reader has learned of his subsequent movements. + +"Wall?" asked Peter, looking expectantly at Mike. + +"You wait a bit, mate," said the other. He dropped his cigarette, +lifted his hat solemnly, and entered the shack. There was a severe air +on his handsome, sunburned face as he emerged. + +"Of course," he said, "we've got to follow; that is, I have. If you +gentlemen----" + +"You don't need to ax," exclaimed Peter, with added bluntness. "We're +here. Ef you want us, we're right alongside you all the time. Murders +ain't often done in the settlements, but when they are, then it's every +man's job to find the brute as did it. You lift yer little finger, and +you've every man Jack willing and ready." + +"Thanks," said Mike swiftly, looking about him and proceeding to roll +another cigarette. "We'll move slippy; we'll get right back along the +tracks this fellow made, and make use of the first telephone. This +Hurley didn't have one, so we can't send news from here. If he's taken +to the railway, we'll send along either way, and they'll have him +quick. But most like he's turned north, in which case we've a pretty +business before us. Ready now?" + +"You kin guess so," said Peter, clambering on to his horse. "Tom, you +ain't afraid to follow?" + +That young fellow shook his head vigorously; his eyes were sparkling. +At that moment he looked more of a boy, more resolute than he had done +ever since he came to the Hurleys'. "I'm game," he said. "If Joe was +game to tackle him alone, I'm right with the lot of you." + +"Then you climb right into Jack's rig and take Joe with you. He'll +want a bit o' nussing for a while. Reckon, Mike, if this here business +is going to take us away north, we'd do well to lay in a stock of +ammunition. What say?" + +The policeman was in his saddle already and turned his head. + +"We'll get all we want from the station," he said. "Let's move." + +Waiting to allow Mike to gain some yards start, so that he might follow +Hurley's track without difficulty, the others followed in single file, +first Peter, and then Jack and his cousin in their rig, with Tom and +Joe beside them, while Jim brought up the rear. Half an hour later +they struck the railway, running clear and unfenced across the land. +Here Mike turned east, still following the wheel marks left by the rig +which Hurley had stolen. About four miles farther along the marks left +the railway and ran towards a stretch of wooded country. Perhaps a +quarter of a mile within this they came upon the rig itself, deserted, +while the horses and Hurley himself were nowhere to be seen. Mike +dropped out of his saddle, where Peter joined him. As for Joe, the +jolting and the excitement of the chase seemed to have done him a vast +amount of good, for his head had ceased to ache, and he was hardly +giddy. But for the pain in his scalp and a certain stiffness about his +limbs, he might never have come by an injury. + +"Unhitched his cattle here and made off with 'em," declared Mike, +standing well clear of the rig, and walking slowly round it. "Struck +due north, as I guessed he might. He'll be hiding up amongst the +woods, and it'll take a tracker to find him. Tell you, Peter, it ain't +no manner of use for us to follow right off. We might lose his tracks +any moment, then there'd be difficulties. Guess the best thing to do +is to camp right here and wait. I'll make back to the railway and +'phone along. Late to-night, perhaps, or to-morrow morning I'll be +back agin with you, and then I'll have someone along with me as can +follow any track, as can scent out a white man almost. You sit tight +right here. Got it?" + +"You've hit it true," agreed Peter. "There ain't no manner of sense in +plunging on. This country right north is jest a huge forest for miles. +There's swamps, too; then stretches of rock over which a man might ride +and never leave a sign that a white man could follow. So we'll camp +right here, and you kin get back and fix things. Don't forget that +we'll want shooters. I've a revolver and a gun; Jack there and George +ain't got a gun between 'em, nor Joe nor Tom. It ain't sense to go +after a chap same as Hurley without having the things to meet him with. +He'll shoot, he will." + +"Sure," declared Mike, with the directness of one who knew; "he'll +shoot on sight. There's a rope waiting fer his neck, and he knows it. +You boys had best understand that right away." + +He glanced round at the party, his eyebrows elevated, a question on his +lips. But they sent him off promptly, laughing at his caution, eager +as ever, whatever the dangers, to follow the miscreant who had killed +his wife and wellnigh done the same for our hero. + +"Best get the hosses out o' the rigs and let 'em feed," said Peter, who +took the lead now that Mike had gone. "Jack, you and George has the +cooking things and the grub, so reckon it's up to you to cook us a +meal. Jim and me'll scout round a while. We ain't likely to cover the +tracks left by Hurley, and it'll be well to follow a goodish bit, so as +to make sure he ain't too handy. It wouldn't be kinder nice to get +eating and then have a bullet plumping amongst us." + +There was bustle about the little clearing for some few minutes. Joe +lent a hand to the Baileys, and soon had the horses out of the rig and +tied by a long rein to trees, allowing them freedom to graze. By then +Tom had gathered sufficient sticks to form a fire, and had helped to +take the horses from Jim's rig; for the latter had already departed +with Peter. In a little while there was a blaze in the centre of the +camp, and Jack had a kettle of water suspended over it with the help of +a couple of forked sticks. George produced from a mysterious parcel a +lump of meat, and having cut it into dainty slices, skewered them in a +long row on a maple stick he had cut and cleaned, and at once began to +toast them over the flames. + +"Makes you get hold of an appetite, young fellow," he said, winking at +Joe. "Now don't it? There's a flavour about open-air cookery that +just sets a man's mouth watering. Ever been out camping?" + +"Never," admitted Joe. "Ripping, I should say." + +"Then you're about right," cried George, his face ruddy beside the +flames. "I mind the time when I first came out to Canada. Didn't I +just pity Jack back in the Old Country! For I went off with a +prospecting party north to see what sort of a line there was for a new +railway. It wasn't half as bad as people had painted, for there were +few muskegs, as the swamps are called, and fewer mosquitoes. As for +food, there wasn't a day passed but the Indians along with us brought +in beasts of every sort; so we dined handsomely. And camping was a +fair treat. Talk about a difference between it and the old +life--living in a tiny villa south of London, mugging in a London +office, and being half-stifled with winter fogs! There we were in the +open day and night, such nights too! Fresh air, fresh food, and heaps +of exercise all the time. I just revelled. This steak frizzling here, +and the scent it throws out, reminds me of that time." + +Joe sniffed eagerly. His headache and even his pains were gone now, +while the trouble his wound gave him was infinitesimal. In fact, it +was the weight of the blow which Hurley had delivered which brought +unconsciousness. The wound was trifling. A thick skull had resisted +damage, and now that his brain tissues were recovering from the jar +they had received, Joe was almost himself again. He sniffed with eager +anticipation, and agreed that open-air cooking had its attractions. He +went to the far end of the maple switch and, holding out a hand, took +it from George. + +"You'll make a cook all right," laughed the latter. "Now see that none +of the steaks get burned. I'll pop tea into the kettle and get other +things ready. Those two will be back before very long; it stands to +reason that they won't go very far. Take my advice, Joe; get inside a +blanket just as soon as you have had a meal, and sleep. You'll be as +fit as a daisy come morning." + +About an hour later, when the first brew of tea had been finished, Jim +and Peter put in an appearance. + +"We kin camp without a thought of danger so far as I kin see," said the +latter, throwing himself down by the fire. "That thar Hurley's made +tracks slick north, and he ain't going to wait for no one. We followed +the trace of his hosses' hoofs fer three mile and more. By the way, +they ain't his hosses; they're mine. Jingo! That makes another count +up agin him. But I was saying as he's gone north slick as anything. +He'll want no end of catching. Seems to me this chase'll last a week +on end, and ef that's to be, I'll make across to the railway after I've +had a bite, and get on to the nearest telephone. Then I kin ring up +Jack's wife and my own and tell 'em. How's that?" + +"Just what was bothering me," cried Jack, who was at that moment +burying his teeth in a juicy steak. "I was saying to myself a little +while ago that it seemed as if this wouldn't be a one-day affair, and I +was bothering to let the wife know. Not that I'm going back till the +matter's finished. Not much--this is a duty." + +"You've put it fair and square," agreed Peter, with flushing face. +"This here are a duty, sure. Out in the settlements there ain't so +many cases of murder and theft. A man soon gets known, seeing as +there's so few of us, and mostly in settlements close together; and ef +he's a bad man--why, out he goes sooner or later. But bad men mostly +gets into the towns. There's a sight of 'em always hanging about the +saloons, and so on. Some of 'em make a regular business of watching +out fer green 'uns, fellers just out from home; and mostly the rogues +strip the poor chaps of every dollar. They're up to all sorts of +tricks. Most like they'll pretend to have land to sell, ready-made +farms, you might say. The bad man is Canada's curse, jest that and +nothing less; and reckon not a few of 'em is the relics of the wasters +and the wont-works who was sent out here long ago from the Old Country, +to get 'em out of the way or to give 'em a new chance." + +"In fact, just the class that modern-day Canada is determined not to +have," chimed in George. "And one can't blame the Government. In +future, jailbirds won't be sent direct to the Dominion instead of to +prison, simply because they'll be turned back at the ports; just the +same as folks with obvious disease of the lungs will be turned back. +But you can pass me along another of those steaks, Tom; and don't go on +looking at 'em like that. Pitch in at them, my boy. There's enough +there and to spare fer everybody." + +Tom had indeed been eyeing the frizzling steaks somewhat hungrily, and, +if the truth had but been known, it was only from force of habit. +Hurley had been very much the master. His apprentice had put up with +short fare and many blows. + +"How was it you was put with him, lad?" asked Peter, when he had +finished his meal and had lit up a pipe preparatory to his setting out +for the railway. "Surely the folks who put you there hadn't met +Hurley?" + +Tom shook his head emphatically. "They'd never seen him," he said. +"My uncle wished me to come out from England, and saw an advertisement +offering to take a lad for a premium. He paid the money and I came, +only to find that I was a sort of slave." + +"Huh!" growled Peter. "Jest what I thought. That's another turn the +bad man gets up to. But boys ain't always treated same as that. I've +had 'em meself, and know others who've taken lads. The Barnardo Boys' +Home sends a goodish lot out to Canada and places them out on the +farms. But, bless you! they ain't finished with 'em by a long bit, and +rightly so. There's inspectors who go round and make surprise visits, +and if they find that a boy isn't getting fair and square and liberal +treatment, why, away he's taken, and put somewhere else. And the +result is that we're bringing up in Canada a heap of young chaps who +come out jest at the very right age, when they ain't yet learned any +farming and when their minds is--wall, now, what are the term?" + +"Receptive," cried Jack, who was quite a scholar. "The young, +untutored mind is readily receptive." + +"Put it like that," agreed Peter, who was a wonderfully talkative and +jolly fellow. "The kids learn, and ain't got no bad tricks to unlearn. +Folks has got to set great store by 'em, for they're likely obedient +lads, and there's more demands for 'em than there's boys. They get +looked after. There ain't no bullyin' and half-starving same as in +Tom's case. What's more, farmers is willing and eager to pay 'em wages +and keep 'em, and not jest have their work for nothing, and a handsome +premium into the bargain. That 'ere Hurley's a bad hat." + +He knocked the ashes out of his pipe, leaped to his feet, and swung his +leg over his horse. Without troubling to put a saddle on the beast, he +hitched the rein free from the tree and went off whistling. + +"A good chap," said Jim. "Known Peter this many a year. Good master, +eh, Joe?" + +"None better," came the prompt answer. "They treat me as if I were a +son. He's used to this tracking?" + +"He's a good man, you may say," agreed Jim. "But he don't often track +men--moose perhaps, and a bear sometimes. This Hurley'll be a +different matter." + +"Now, Joe, jest you get right off to bed," commanded George, who seemed +to take almost a paternal interest in our hero. "By sunrise to-morrow +you'll be feeling fine, and you'll thank me." + +That the advice was good there was little doubt, and since Jack +supported it with vehemence, Joe obeyed, though he felt far from +sleepy. Indeed, he was almost too excited to be that; for, recollect, +the events of the day had been sufficiently rousing for a youth of his +age and experience. He had been engaged in a desperate struggle with a +bully, with a man who would have killed him with pleasure, and who, in +fact, did his best to bring about that ending. And now he and his +friends were in chase of the murderer. He, Joe, was away in the wilds +of Canada, in the backwoods, with the open sky above him, about to +Sleep beneath it for the first time in his life. He drew a blanket +which Jack had brought round his body, and lay down on a bed of spruce +that Jim had cut. And there for a while he lay without movement, his +eyes blinking at the glowing embers of the fire. A little later his +head dropped lower, while the men chatting in low voices round the fire +heard his sonorous breathing. + +"Good plucked 'un, him," remarked Jim, pulling his pipe from his mouth +and pointing the stem at the recumbent figure. "There's many as would +have backed out of that 'ere ruction and left Tom to fend for hisself. +He's the sort we want in this country. A chap as can put up a fight +with a murderer double his size can face the troubles that come to all +colonists. Pass the 'bacca, Jack. I came away in such a hurry that +I've none." + +"Do you know his history?" asked Jack Bailey after a while, when they +had smoked silently for some few minutes, the smoke from their pipes +ascending into the cool evening air and mingling with that from the +fire where it met the leaves overhead. "He's a better sort--one of the +better class in England." + +"As you can see," agreed George. "Heard anything of him, Jim?" + +"Jest this," came the answer. "There's a man named Fennick as was +close handy to me this five years back. Well, seems he came out with +Joe, and they write to one another every now and again. In fact, this +Joe's going along to join him one of these days as soon as he's learned +farming. Fennick just swears by the lad; says as he organized a band +of volunteers on the way out when the ship got afire, and helped to +fight the flames. So Joe ain't fought a murderer only; that's why I +agreed as he was a good plucked 'un. Now I'm fer bed; most like we +shall have a hard day of it ter-morrer. I know Mike; he's a boy fer +pushing ahead. There's nothing tires him. Gee! I wouldn't wonder if +we was in fer a hairy sort of time on this business. Joe are likely to +come up agin trouble beside which his fight with Hurley warn't nothing." + +Peace reigned over the slumbering camp within half an hour. The +watchful stars glowed down upon the little band and seemed to guard +them. Slowly the hours drew along towards morning, when the pursuit of +the murderer would be taken up in earnest. And which one of the band +could say what sort of experience awaited them? Perhaps Jim would be +right. It was more than likely that Joe might find himself plunged +into a conflict beside which his fight this day was a mere scrimmage. +But whatever the prospect might be, it did not disturb his slumbers. +Joe hardly so much as turned till the first rays of a brilliant sun +streamed into his eyes on the following morning. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Hank makes his Appearance + +The sound of hoofs trampling through the wood was the first thing that +came to Joe's ears as he sprang from his spruce bed and looked about +him. Someone was coming towards the camp through the forest, while +about the still-smouldering fire lay the figures of his sleeping +comrades. + +"Peter and Mike coming back, I expect," he told himself. "But +supposing it were Hurley?" + +There was just a bare possibility that the sounds were produced by that +individual, and, lest it should be the case, Joe gripped a thick stake +and awaited events. Then a shout escaped him, while an answering +welcome hail sounded through the camp and set every one of the sleepers +stirring. + +"I see you right enough!" shouted Peter, laughing as he dropped from +his horse. "I seed Joe grip a hold of a stake when he heard us, +thinking maybe we was Hurley. He was game, he was, to put up another +fight with the bully. But we ain't, you see, lad, and so let's get to +breakfast." + +It appeared that Peter had met with Mike late the previous night, and +the two had rested beside the railway; and now they came into the camp, +bringing with them a couple of followers. These proved to be +Indians--not the Red Indian one sees often pictured, but lean men with +bent figures, and dressed in shabby buckskins. Their black hair was +trained back from their faces and tied at their necks. Their thin +faces were seamed and lined as if with many troubles, while their bent +figures, their wrinkles, and their general appearance gave one the +impression that Mike had brought old men with him. + +"But don't you think it," said the policeman, when he dropped from his +horse and was seated near the fire awaiting a meal. "They're men I've +employed this many a time, and first-rate trackers. One's known as +Fox--and a fox he is, if one judges by his cunning--the other hasn't a +name, so far as I have ever gathered, so he's 'Bill' to me, and answers +the name promptly. They ain't much good at talking, either of 'em, +though they can speak English. I've known them sit all day long round +the fire and not pass more than a dozen words between them; but clever +trackers they are, and that's why I've brought 'em. Now, boys, +something to eat, and then away." + +By now the fire had been coaxed into a blaze, while a number of steaks +which George had prepared overnight, and had already skewered, were +soon sizzling over the flames. Tom came running back to camp from a +stream to which he had been sent, and at once the kettle was hung in +position. As for Joe, he felt a new lad indeed. He might never have +come by an injury, though his head was tender enough when one touched +it. He slipped from the camp with Jim, and the two, having walked a +little way down the stream, stripped off their clothing and had a +splendid dip. + +"Regular dodge of an Englishman," grinned Jim, as he sat on the bank to +allow the sun's rays to dry him. "Your Englishman comes to a foreign +part and plunges right into the first pond he happens on. There's +hardly another man that's so keen on bathing. But it freshens a +fellow--eh, Joe? How are you this morning?" + +"Hungry," came the prompt answer. "But I felt I wanted a livener, and +that dip has done it. Suppose we shall ride right off as soon as +breakfast is finished?" + +"You've hit it; Peter and Mike has brought along some spare hosses. +There was Peter's to begin with, and Mike's; then there was two in my +rig and two in Jack Bailey's, making six in all. With the Indians we +muster just eight, so two more hosses were wanted. You see, we ain't +going to take rigs with us. They'd be in the way, most likely, +especially in this sort of wooded country. We shall ride; Peter's +brought along the saddles." + +When they returned to the camp and were in the midst of their +breakfast, the voluble Peter explained matters fully. + +"Me and Mike hit right up agin one another last night," he said, "and +in course we got to gassing. We allowed as rigs warn't no sort of use +away up in the country to which this Hurley had made, so it war clear +that extry hosses was needed. Wall, we fetched 'em. Hank Mitchell, +one of the best fellows you could hap upon, lent 'em willingly, and +he's coming to join us. He's bringing guns, too, for they're to come +along in a freight train from Sudbury fust thing this morning; so's +saddles and tinned provisions. Hank has also arranged fer two of his +hands to come right along here and clear back with the rigs, fer it +wouldn't do to leave 'em here fer more than a day or two. People's +mighty honest in these parts, but there might arrive someone who was a +stranger, and who jest happened to be in want of a rig same as one of +these. So they'll be took back to the rail track, near Hank +Mitchell's, and wait thar till we returns. Why, ef that ain't Hank +hisself! He has been extry nippy." + +A short, spare man came cantering up to the camp at that moment, his +approach having been hidden from all by the trees which surrounded +them. He dropped from his saddle with as much ease as the average man +steps from one board to another, and walked swiftly forward. + +"Hallo, mates, how'dy?" he said softly, as if he were afraid of having +his voice heard. "My boys are close handy with the guns and sichlike. +Which one's Joe, him as I've heard of?" + +"Thar," cried Peter, grinning, and pointing to our somewhat bashful +hero. + +"Do yer drink?" asked Hank abruptly, stepping across till he was close +to him, and regarding Joe with a pair of eyes which might be described +as actually piercing. + +"No," was the equally abrupt answer. Joe, in fact, stared hard at this +newcomer. He didn't quite know what to make of him, though, to be +sure, he rather liked his looks. Hank's nut-brown face, clean-shaven, +unlike most others in those parts, with its deeply-lined forehead and +the whisps of grey hair showing beneath his hat at the temples, spoke +of one who had seen many years. But it was a kindly face, kindly and +keen; that, perhaps, was the better description. Every movement of the +little man was jerky. His lips, when he spoke, opened sharply and +closed again, as if he were anxious to hide his teeth. His eyes +blinked with spasmodic suddenness. He even seemed to breathe +differently from other men. + +"Smoke?" he demanded, firing the question off as if he were glad to be +rid of it, and yet observing Joe all the while, as if he would +penetrate to the centre of his brain and steal the very thoughts he was +thinking. + +"Sometimes," admitted Joe, somewhat guiltily; "not often; shall do +later." + +"Huh! Larned farmin' yet?" asked Hank, with comical shortness. + +"Trying," grinned Joe, beginning to see fun in this catechism, and +taking a decided liking for the newcomer; "but I ain't through yet. I +admit that I don't know everything. There's a few things yet that +Peter can teach me." + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" shouted the latter. "He's had you, Hank. He's always +like this is Hank," explained Peter. "He don't 'low no one to be +friends till he's sort of axed him all sorts o' questions. And guess +he jest don't care much fer a Britisher as comes out here and knows +most everything. Git ahead, Hank, boy," he bellowed. "Joe ain't one +o' them. He's one of the right sort; he's a good plucked 'un." + +"You kin shake," said Hank, his comical gravity unmoved, though there +was just the suspicion of a flutter of an eyelid. "Lad, I'm proud to +meet yer. The chap as could stand up to Hurley are worth knowing. +Shake!" + +Joe shook. He danced almost on the toes of one foot, for this lean +little man had a hand grip of iron. His fingers closed round our +hero's as if he meant to crush the very bones, while those curiously +piercing eyes never left the young fellow he was addressing. + +"I say," roared Joe, "now try again." + +He offered his hand for the second time, while those who observed Hank +saw distinctly a twinkle of his eye. He even smiled, a rarity with +Hank, and responded at once to our hero's invitation. This time Joe +returned the grip with interest. Some weeks of farming, of rough work +in Peter Strike's service, had hardened his muscles, and anyone could +see that he was filling out. Indeed, but for the fact that Hank had +taken him unawares, Joe's fingers would not have received such a +crushing. Now he let them close round the diminutive Canadian's like a +vice, and fixed his eyes on those two piercing orbs which he found so +wonderfully attracting. The two closed in to one another till but a +short space separated them, and then and there exchanged a second grip, +the grip which spoke of friendship, of strength, of firmness, of +virtues which the man who lives his life in the open and meets danger +and privation often enough prizes above all other virtues. As for +Hank, the suspicion of a smile in his eyes went promptly. He was all +seriousness. Indeed, all of a sudden he seemed to view Joe from an +altogether different standpoint. A minute before he had been greeting +a green lad, one who had shown pluck and deserved encouragement; but +now he seemed to have dipped somewhat into the spirit which kept Joe +going, which dominated every waking moment of his life, which made of +him the youthful leader of that band of volunteers aboard the emigrant +ship, and again urged him to stand fast in Tom's behalf in spite of +Hurley the bully. Intuitively Hank seemed to guess that Joe had +balance and grit, and promptly he acknowledged the fact. + +"I'm fair glad to meet you," he said. "From now on you've a friend." + +Then they sat down round the fire, while their comrades watched their +faces for some few minutes. + +"Hank ain't often done a thing like that before," Peter whispered to +Joe a little later. "He's just the queerest bird I ever met, and don't +never show no feeling; but he's took to you, jest as a duck takes to +water. He's got grit has Hank. I've knowed him foller a chap as had +robbed a widow woman, follow him for two weeks on end, and take him +almost aboard the ship he had booked by. That meant determination, or +grit if you like to call it so. But here's the men with the guns, and +guess Mike's getting restless. Now jest take the word of one who's +been out here a while and has met bad men. Ef you sight Hurley, don't +stand hankey-pankey. Back in England you'd call to him and then give +chase ef he didn't round up. Out here you kin call to him; but ef his +hands don't go sky high above his head, and that in a jiffy, give him +lead--lead, boy, or else he'll be putting daylight through your own +valuable carcass. This ain't a game we're after; we're following a man +that's murdered a woman, his own wife, and who's got nothing but the +hangman's rope before him. He won't be over particular what happens to +those who pursue him. Now, Mike, what's to do?" + +"Fall in and arrange the order," cried that latter, swinging his leg +across his horse. "First, Tom there, stamp out the embers of the fire. +Things haven't got dried up yet awhile, for the weather hasn't been +overhot. But it's always as well to be careful; a forest fire is +something wuss than chasin' a murderer. Now, Fox and Bill go ahead. +Ah, they're there already--that shows that they've had practice. Then +I'll follow them close. Jack Bailey and George can ride along side by +side. Jim and Tom can come along next, while I guess that Peter and +Hank had best ride right in rear, taking Joe with 'em. It'll teach him +a heap, ef only he keeps his eyes and his ears open. Boys, there's +grub and stuff to bring along, so divide it up and drop it into your +saddle bags." + +Some little while before, Hank's men had put in an appearance, bringing +stout saddles with them, all of which were fitted with two canvas bags. +There were rifles also for each one of the party, as well as revolvers +and the necessary ammunition. The provisions consisted of tinned +goods, as well as the stuff which the thoughtful Jack Bailey had +brought with him. It took but a little while to share out all the +things, and very soon the cavalcade was mounted. Then, having seen +Hank's men ride off with the rigs trailing behind them, the party set +its face to the north and rode off in wake of the murderer. And a very +formidable and business-like little band they appeared. We have +already described the Indians known as Fox and Bill. They sat their +horses bareback, as if they were part and parcel of their mounts, while +not once had either addressed the other or one of the white men they +were to lead, save in the case of Mike, when all that passed seemed to +be a succession of incomprehensible grunts. For the rest, Mike himself +made a fine figure of a horseman, and sat head and shoulders above +everyone, for his horse was big like himself. Jack and George followed +some ten paces behind him, boyish eagerness on their faces. Then came +Jim and Tom, none the less eager, while in rear of all the lanky Peter +bestrode his horse with legs swinging loosely on either side, while +Hank sat his saddle for all the world as if he were a statue. The man +was taciturnity itself. He was almost as reserved and silent as the +Indians, and for watchfulness, there never was such a man. + +"Guess them two Injuns has made a mistake," cried Peter, after a while, +pointing away from the track they were following. "There's marks of +hosses to one side. Hurley stopped jest here." + +"And rested," agreed Hank, with brevity. "They ain't missed that. No +Injun could. They've seed that Hurley rested there some while, and +then went on agin. They didn't need to go and look; they kind of knew +it." + +"How?" asked Joe curiously, himself puzzled to see how the Indians +could have divined such a matter. + +"Simple," came the response. "We've been going this hour and more. +Wall, reckon it war evening when Hurley abandoned the rig and pushed +on. He travelled an hour, when it fell dark. He jest camped for the +evening. That thar place was his fust stopping point. It ain't of no +importance except to tell us that he's got so much start of us this +morning, besides what he made by getting off before we broke camp. +Young chap, this here's a sorter stern chase. Time's everything in it. +Hurley's got, say, three hours' start, and the country ahead is wooded. +Wall, we've got to make up that three hours afore we can come up with +him, and stopping jest to see what sort of a bed he made last night +ain't a-going to help us. See?" + +Joe did; he smiled at Hank. "Never even crossed my brain," he said. +"Somehow, when one tackles a job like this for the first time, one +doesn't see things as does a practised hand." + +"In course you don't," agreed Hank, winking back at him. "It's jest +like the farming; some chaps think they know everything, but they +don't. Most folks is bamboozled right from the beginning. They has to +learn; and tracking wants learning jest like farming. Now, jest you +see here; how should I know as Hurley warn't more'n three hours ahead?" + +It was a conundrum. Joe puzzled and puzzled, and then gave up the +riddle. + +"Don't know," he said, disappointment in his voice. "How?" + +"In course you don't know. How could you, youngster? But I'll larn +yer. This here's a wooded country, as you've agreed. Wall, now, most +all the time we're steering in and out amongst the pines, and every now +and agin you or me has to separate because there ain't room. Hurley's +got two hosses--don't ferget that--and he can't so easily separate, +'cos he'd lose a hold of the led hoss. So he has to ride round the +narrow places or squeeze through. He squeezes through at times, and +what happens? Jest this." + +Suddenly Hank drew in his mount at just such a spot as he was +mentioning, where the trees were grouped in a thick cluster, and the +track led between two of them, both on the high road to become giants. +Hank leaned from his saddle and pointed to a spot on one of the trees +about the height of his stirrup iron. + +"Hurley barged through that 'ere place," he said, "and, so as his leg +shouldn't get jammed, he pushed his foot out and rid the hosses as much +to the other side as he could. Wall, his thick, hob-nailed toe came +agin this tree and chipped the bark. I've seen a dozen similar places." + +Joe regarded the spot closely. It was evident, now that the fact was +pointed out to him, that Hurley's toe had been responsible for the +injury. + +"Wall?" demanded Hank. "See?" + +"The place he's left? Yes," assented Joe; "but----" + +"Jest so--wants larnin'," asserted Hank dryly. "Now, see here. This +aer a deepish cut, and a jagged one. It's bleeding; there's gum oozing +from the place, and it aer fresh and sticky. That shows as the wound +was done not so long ago. Ef it was last night, then the gum would +have balled down below, while the surface of the wound would hardly be +sticky, but gettin' dry. Now, how do I know as Mike or his Injuns +ain't done it passing along?" + +"Because the gum has balled to a certain extent already, while I see it +oozes very slowly from the wound." + +"Good fer you," cried Hank, evidently pleased with his pupil. "That's +a fust lesson. That there gum ha' balled jest a little, as you've +said, and there's some of it still oozing. Wall, now, it stands to +reason that a man don't go riding around in a wood like this when it's +dark, fer he'd get knocking his ugly head agin the branches. So he +either lies down and sleeps, or dismounts and leads the hoss. This war +done by a mounted man, and sense it ain't been light more'n three +hours, and Hurley couldn't ride during the dark, why, there's my +question answered. Even ef we hadn't seen the place where he camped, +this here wound in the pine would ha' told us all the story. Jest you +put that in yer mouth and chew it." + +Joe did with a vengeance. The two rode on side by side for three +hours, hardly exchanging another syllable; but all the while our hero +was observing. If he had imagined previously that he was a fairly +lively individual, quite wideawake and aware of his surroundings, he +was beginning to discover, particularly in the company of this sharp +little Hank, that he was by no means a marvel. + +"See whar Hurley stopped fer a bite?" asked Hank one time, as they +pressed along across a more open part of the forest. "You didn't? +Wall, jest ride back a pace and take another squint. It aer fairly +talking to yer." + +They returned some twenty paces, and Joe looked about him eagerly. But +not a sign did he see to convince him that Hurley had pulled up and +eaten. Hank grinned, one of those irritating and superior grins. His +dried-up face became seamed with subdued merriment, while Joe went the +colour of a geranium; and then, when in the depths of despair, he of a +sudden made a discovery. "Ah!" he gasped. + +"Jest so," said Hank encouragingly. + +"He hitched his reins over a branch, and the horse jerked his head and +pulled the limb off the tree. There it is. There's the place where it +broke, and, by jingo! there's gum below, slightly balled already. +Besides, there's a piece of paper a little to the side. Probably it +contained the food he was eating, while underfoot there are horses' +hoofs in all sorts of positions." + +Hank grinned the grin of a man who is elated. "That 'ere Mike'll have +to look to hisself, and so will the Injuns," he said. "Soon we'll have +you leading this here party. But you have got the hang of the thing +now, lad. Never get tired of looking about you. There's tales to be +read in most every spot. P'raps it's a bear that's passed. Then you'd +see a footmark same almost as ef it was a barefooted human. Or you may +drop on the splayed-out markings of a moose. That's the thing to fire +the blood of a hunter. Maybe there's not a sign, but only trees and +rocks and stones that seems to tell nothing; but there's always +something to be learned. A wolf has had his quarters here, fer there's +a hollow, and there's bones in heaps all round. Or there's been a +prospecting party through the place, fer there's stumps that has been +cut with an axe, and not broke off rough as ef the wind had done it. +Tracking aer a game that don't tire, never! It's a thing that a man +aer best at ef he's been born to it; but it can be learned, same as +farming. You ain't too old to start, not by a long way." + +Not till the sun was directly overhead did the little band come to a +halt, and then only to allow them to eat a little, while girths were +loosened to give the horses every chance of resting. + +"Steady and sure does it," said Mike, as he smoked his pipe and leaned +against one of the trees. "Of course, we've got to push the pace +whenever we're able, and I reckon we've been doing that all along. +Anyway, we've made up some of the distance, for single horsemen can get +along through these trees quicker than a chap who's got one to lead. +It's when he gets to open country that he'll make the most of the +hosses; for he'll be able to change over, and that means a heap, don't +it, Hank?" + +"A heap," answered that individual jerkily. "But he has to sleep, +Mike. That's where we'll have him." + +"Eh? How's that? I ain't followed." + +"Jest like this. He's fresh now we'll 'low, and ef he's able he'll +push on all through the night. To-morrow he'll still be going; but +when night falls he'll be wanting a rest, and so, you may say, shall we +be. Now, ef half this outfit pushes on, Hurley has to move ahead, and +it'll be slow travelling. Our chaps'll go afoot, so as to rest the +hosses. At dawn the rest of us rides along the trace after 'em, and +can cover the ground mighty quick in comparison, seeing that it's +daylight. Wall, we leave half the hosses with the fust party, who're +resting, and push ahead. Our chums gets a four-hour sleep and comes +along after. Both of us is fresh that night, while Hurley can't hardly +keep his eyes open. It aer as clear as daylight." + +The little man shut up like an oyster. He drew a pipe as diminutive as +himself from an inner pocket, crammed it with tobacco while his eyes +rested dreamily on the forest, and then struck flint and steel with +such unerring skill that he soon had the weed smouldering. + +"It aer as clear as daylight," he puffed at the company. "Ef things +goes in the ordinary way, Hurley'll be taken just when I've hinted, and +he'll be in jail come the week-end." + +"And supposin' they don't go along in the ordinary course?" asked Mike, +who, from his experience, thought highly of the taciturn Hank. "It +ain't of much use to set out follerin' a criminal and expecting him to +do jest as you want him to. You've got to make allowance fer all sorts +of strange turns. He's making north; he might fall in with some +wandering Indians, or a prospecting gang, and get off along with them +because of their help." + +"Yep!" answered the usually silent Hank, with accustomed brevity. +"Guess he might. Even so, we ain't done with him. This outfit's out +to catch a ruffian who wants catching badly." + +"You bet!" agreed Peter, with a quick shake of his head. + +"A brute who's been and murdered his wife," cried Jim, his face +flushing. + +"The sort of bully whose capture we must make our duty," declared Jack +Bailey, not the least enthusiastic of the party. + +"Yep!" responded Hank. "So it comes to this, Mike. Supposin' he does +do something we can't yet guess at, why, where's the odds? We still +goes on after him. And sooner or later, barrin' regular bad luck, +we'll have him. That's what I'm out fer. Guess it's the same with you +and the other partners." + +All that afternoon they pushed on through the forest, sometimes +pressing their way through closely-grown pine trees, and then through +thick masses of maple, of spruce, of birch, or of the scarlet sumac. +At times streams cut across their path--for Canada is a well-watered +country for the most part--and more than once had to skirt the edge of +great lakes. But always Fox and Bill went ahead without hesitation. +Not once had they met with a break in the trail. Their ferrety eyes +hardly seemed ever to look to the ground. It seemed, indeed, as if +they followed the trail of the murderer by intuition alone. When night +came pine stumps were set fire to and the chase continued. + +"You kin say as we're making even way with him," said Hank, who still +rode with our hero. "He's got to find his way amongst the trees, and +he's walking, I guess. Wall, so are we. But we've pine knots to light +us, and kin follow the trace easy. It's to-morrow night that'll be the +teaser." + +The early morning found the devoted little band emerging into a stretch +of open country. But there were trees again in the distance, and +always the tracks left by the fugitive went due north. + +"A child could follow all the way," declared Hank, as they went on at a +steady walk, sometimes trotting to change the monotony. "This here's +grass country, and no man can ride through it at this season without +leaving a trail. I wonder he ain't tried some tricks to throw us off, +sich as droppin' into a stream and riding down along the bed; but he +ain't, and it begins to look as ef he knew there was someone after him +and was feelin' hustled. All the same, he's 'way ahead; you can't get +a glimpse of him across the open." + +Halting for meals, and to give the horses a rest, the band had reached +wooded country again that evening, and about eight o'clock came to a +halt. + +"Here's where we camp," said Mike. "Now we'll divide up. Some of us +has a feed and a smoke, and then goes on ahead on foot; t'others has a +sleep along of the hosses, and then rides on at the first streak of +dawn. Who's going on?" + +It took but a little while to settle this point, and since it was +agreed to by all that young fellows like Joe and Tom needed sleep more +than did older men, and, moreover, had harder work to do without it, +these two remained in the camp, Hank and Peter staying with them. Fox +and Bill, with a curt grunt, assented to the fact that they should +proceed at once. Mike, of course, was one of the forward party, while +George and Jack Bailey and Jim completed its numbers. + +"Reckon you ain't got no great need to hurry," said Hank, when the meal +was finished and pipes had been lighted, while a tin pannikin was being +passed round with an allowance of whisky for all who cared for it. +"Guess Hurley'll think we won't be out to-night, and he'll take things +easy. In course he might camp too, when you might drop nicely upon +him. Jest hold yerselves in, for it's little sleep you'll get till we +have him." + +About an hour later the little band selected to move on in advance left +the camp in Indian file, Fox leading, with Bill immediately behind him. +They left their horses with their comrades, so as to give them a good +rest. + +"Yer see," explained Hank, "hosses is queer cusses. They kin stand a +deal of gruelling work ef they're fed right, and most of these here is +corn fed. But you can't drive 'em too hard. There's no other animal +that breaks his heart sooner, and that's a fact. They're that game, +they'll keep on till they're ready to drop. Therefore, you've got to +save 'em, particularly seein' as Hurley has got two to our one, and so +kin rest 'em in turn. Now the sooner we get stretched out the better." + +There being no need to set a watch, all who were remaining in camp at +once wrapped themselves in their blankets and threw themselves upon the +beds already prepared--consisting of the leafy tips of small spruce +trees, than which nothing can make a more comfortable couch--and, +needless to say, their eyes closed almost at once, for they were weary +after their travels, and they slept till the first streak of dawn +awakened Hank. + +"Up you gets, one and all," he sang out. "Jest give them hosses a +mouthful of water, and then we'll ride. Time we come along with the +others we'll feed, and then away agin." + +That was Joe's first experience of working on an empty stomach, and +truth compels us to add that he found the experience a trying one. He +felt hollow and sickly. The sharp morning air made him ravenous; he +simply longed for the hour for breakfast. + +"Guess you do feel holler," laughed Hank, when our hero told him of his +feelings. "I mind the time when I was jest a slip of a lad and felt +jest as you do. But I was away huntin' with my father then, for he +made a tidy pile of dollars by gettin' skins and selling 'em in +Montreal, and sometimes over the border in America. Wall, he were a +hot 'un. He never seemed to want to eat, only when he was set down to +it--gee!--he could put away double as much as the average man. It was +then that I used to get that sinking sensation. We'd be out at +daylight winter mornings, with the thermometer 'way down below zero, +and the air that crisp it made you jest long for a bite. And I've been +two days and more without a trace of food. That's mighty hard, you'll +believe me. Howsomever, you stick it out this time. You'll soon get +used to waitin'." + +However, when three hours had passed, during which the party had made +very rapid progress through a country thinly covered with trees, the +famishing feeling with which Joe had been assailed had worn off to a +considerable degree. + +"Feel as though I could go along comfortably all day without food," he +told Hank. "I'm not nearly so hungry." + +"You jest wait till you smell a steak cookin'," came the laughing +rejoinder. "Gee! Won't yer mouth water jest! But we're mighty near +them folks now. Seems to me as ef I could smell a fire burnin'." + +A mile farther along they came upon their comrades camped in a little +clearing. Mike at once came towards them. + +"He was camped sure enough last night," he said; "but Hurley's a smart +'un. He heard us comin', and streaked straight off; but he ain't far. +We've picked up a heap of lost way, and to-night we'll nab him. You +ain't fed?" + +"None," answered Hank, dropping from his horse. "These here lads is +fairly shoutin' fer food." + +They made a cheerful party round the fire, and Joe sniffed expectantly +as George skewered some steaks and set them to frizzle over the blaze. +And oh, the enchantment of that open-air meal and this camping life! +Joe revelled in it. Never had he tasted such juicy and succulent meat. +Never before had steaming tea seemed so very entrancing. And think of +the future! The excitement of this chase had grown upon him. In a +measure he was sorry for Hurley; but then he was a brutal murderer, and +such people must not expect anything but strict justice. + +"We'll have him come to-night," said Mike, with assurance, as he led +the way to the horses. "You folks had better see to yer guns. There's +never no saying when this Hurley won't stand to his ground and put up a +fight. Ef he does, wall, things will be flyin'. He ain't likely to be +so careless as to miss a chap who stands out clear under his sights, as +ef he was askin' fer a bullet." + +The announcement sent a flush to Joe's and to Tom's cheeks. They rode +forward eagerly, wondering when the silence of the forest might be +broken by a rifle report, and whether, supposing that event happened, +either one of them would drop out of his saddle. + +"Makes a chap tingle all over," Joe admitted to Hank. "But I ain't +going to let this Hurley scare the life out of me, not by a long way." + +"Good fer you," came the answer. "I ain't afeard of his bullets, only +lest he should beat us and give us the goodbye. That'd be tarnation +bad fortune." + +The result of this long chase was, in fact, still very much in the +balance, and it remained to be seen whether Joe and his friends would +yet lay their hands on the murderer, and if so, whether our hero would +be fortunate enough to recover his dollars and that vastly important +letter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Lost in the Forest + +"Them 'ere Injuns has stopped, and the hull crowd of us is collecting +together," suddenly exclaimed Hank Mitchell, when the party of pursuers +had marched steadily throughout the day till evening was approaching, +and were in the depths of a forest which, for three hours past, had +been getting denser and denser. "I've seed myself signs that told as +Hurley wasn't so far ahead, and I'd reckon that Fox and his friend have +seen something more than warns 'em that things may be warmin' up in a +little. There's Mike beckoning." + +It was not an easy matter to see far in this thick forest, even when +the light was at its best, which was not the case now that evening was +approaching. But it happened that Mike and the Indian trackers had +come to rest at a spot which gave the others a clear view of them, so +that as those marching in the rear came up, they were able to see the +comrades who preceded them gathering into a circle. Mike addressed +Peter and Hank immediately on their arrival, speaking in subdued tones. + +"He ain't got much go left in him," he said excitedly. "Fox reckons as +he went right off to sleep in his saddle hereabouts, and happenin' to +ride under a low branch, got swept off his horse. See here." + +He had halted his friends a little to one side of the track followed by +Hurley, a track easily to be distinguished; for the two horses the +murderer had stolen trod down undergrowth at every step, leaving a +trail which even Joe, with all his inexperience, could have followed. +Some yards ahead it was evident that something unusual had happened, +for the undergrowth was trodden down in a wide circle. Hank, his head +down, his eyes glued to the trace, sniffing as if he were a dog, at +once shot from the circle and, taking pains to tread outside the trail, +inspected every part of it. + +"Huh!" he grunted, with satisfaction which was evident. "Hurley ain't +the man that can put up with much loss of sleep. Besides, he's been +bustling these many hours, and that makes a man tired. You kin see +what happened. Of course, Fox and Bill were bound to notice it. +Reckon he carries a gun slung over his shoulder, and that was the cause +of his tumble." + +Joe looked the question he would have dearly loved to ask, and Hank, +happening to catch his eye at that moment, beckoned to the lad. + +"You come along over here and keep right clear of the trace," he said. +"Now, I know what you were about to ask. How'd I know as he had a gun +slung over his shoulder? Wall, here's the answer." He pointed to a +low bough which stretched right across the trail, and at once Joe's +eyes searched it. There was a small gash on the side from which Hurley +must have approached the branch, and the gash extended underneath for +some little distance, perhaps for a matter of three inches, while right +at the end a piece of bark had been torn out. + +"Plain, ain't it?" said Hank. "You could draw his picture, ef you had +a pencil and paper and was a hand at sich things. Just tell us how it +was." + +"Fast asleep and bending forward," ventured Joe. + +"Jest so. Bendin' forward, 'cos that's the way with a man that has +dropped off in his saddle. Wall?" + +"Gun slung over his shoulder--right shoulder, I should say." + +"Why?" snapped Hank. "No guessin', now." + +"Because the gash on this side of the branch slants in that direction, +looking at it from below." + +"Good fer you. Get ahead!" + +"I shouldn't have guessed that the gash was caused by a rifle, though," +admitted Joe, with candour. "You told me that part of it. However, I +think the gun was over his right shoulder; the muzzle caught the branch +and swept Hurley backward till he toppled out of his saddle. I suppose +he awoke with a start and made a frantic effort to keep his seat. +That's when the muzzle--perhaps the sight of the rifle--dug deeper into +the bark and ripped a piece away." + +"You aer gettin' along fine," said Hank encouragingly. "What next?" + +"There's where he fell," said Joe, pointing to the trace. "His fall +startled both horses; one went to the right and the other to the left. +They were roped together in all probability, or they would have gone +farther apart. Hurley picked himself up, scrambled on one of their +backs, and went ahead." + +"Cussin' at bein' so shook up," grunted Hank. "That's a fine tale, and +you've told it well, young chap. But next time you must be the fust to +spot things like this without gettin' hints from anyone. Mike," he +called softly, "what'll you do?" + +"That's jest what I'm wonderin'," came the answer. "How'd you fix it?" + +The shrewd and sharp little Hank had no doubts on the matter; in fact, +it was clear that he had come to a decision promptly, the moment he had +seen what had happened. "There ain't two ways for it," he said +crisply. "Hurley's 'way ahead, and not so far, neither. Most like, ef +he feels as we're close on his heels, he'll choose a likely spot and +turn. Now we don't want to let him feel anything of the sort, and so +it's up to us to creep on without a sound. Ef I war boss here I'd send +three or four of the party 'way ahead, t'others to follow, and be ready +to dash along up ef there was a call. But four ought to be enough to +collar Hurley ef he was without a rifle, while the same number kin easy +round him up and hold him till t'others arrive." + +"Then that's jest what I was thinking," cried Mike, looking across at +Peter. + +"Same here," nodded that individual. "Hank aer the boy fer jobs of +this sort. He's had experience, while chaps same as I am can't hope to +know much about tracking, when the best part of our time's spent on our +sections. Ef he says go ahead like that, why, in course it's up to us +to do it." + +"Then we'll send Fox along," said Mike. "I'll go ahead too, and Hank +with me. Who else?" + +"Why not Joe?" asked Hank suddenly. "He's cute, he is, and he ain't +likely to get scared. You could shoot, lad, ef this Hurley turned and +fired in amongst us?" + +"I would certainly," admitted Joe. "Of course, I don't want to have +to, for I should hate to kill or injure a man; but then he's a +murderer." + +"He's that," agreed Mike, with energy, "and he don't deserve soft +treatment. Still, ef he'll come in quiet, he shall be treated fair; ef +he don't, why, then, it's his own lookout. Best go afoot; eh, Hank?" + +"Sure! We can move jest as fast, and we shan't make anything like the +sound. You get ahead with Fox, Mike; I'll take Joe and larn him a +little as we go." + +At once they handed over their horses to their comrades, Joe passing +his to Peter. + +"You're in real luck, you are, lad," whispered the latter, as he took +the bridle. "I ain't never seen Hank take so much trouble with anyone, +least of all a green 'un lately out from the Old Country. He aer fair +took to you, and Hank aer one of them queer cusses that when he's fixed +a thing in his own mind he don't never alter. So you've a friend there +as you kin count on." + +Slinging a bag across their shoulders, and packing a tin mug and some +provisions, the quartet took up their rifles, saw that they had +sufficient ammunition, and then strode off through the deepening gloom +of the forest, the silent and ever-watchful Fox in advance, with Mike +close behind him; at a little distance in the rear came Hank, with Joe +beside him. + +"Jest you watch this," whispered the little man. "That there Fox don't +make a sound as he goes, nor Mike neither, and he's a big man. Wall, +see how they tread: always with caution; always lookin' first to see +what's underfoot. And ef they can't see, as'll be the case afore long, +why, then, they bends down and feels. You've got to be wary all the +while, I tell you. Supposing as you go you swung the butt of your gun +agin one of these tree trunks, wall, a man as was listening could hear +the sound half a mile away, for a forest carries sound; then, supposin' +you was to step on a piece of fallen branch, fallen perhaps last year +and dry as tinder now, why, it'd break with a crack that would make you +think someone had fired a gun, and that 'ere Hurley would hear it +whether he was listening special or not. So go carefully, whatever you +do; silence aer important." + +Joe found the task he had undertaken one of the most fascinating he had +ever attempted, for he was aware that the other three who formed the +party were experienced men, and unlikely to do anything to cause an +alarm. It was with himself that the danger lay, and he determined then +and there that he would return Hank's kindness in asking for him to be +one of the band by taking every care to avoid noise. Yet it was not by +any means an easy matter, for Fox pushed the pace. The lean Indian +strode forward with a long, stealthy stride, making not so much as a +sound. His head was bent towards his chest, his back bowed, while the +inward-pointed toes of either foot seemed to be able to see every twig +beneath them, and avoid them as if they were so many tinned tacks, +liable to cause a spasm of agony to the one who trod upon them. + +The huge and bulky Mike, contrary to one's expectations, followed the +Indian with fairy-like footsteps; for the policeman was possessed of a +wonderfully springy step, which carried him silently through the +forest. Hank's method of progress hardly needs description. The +little, lean man, whose features expressed his character so faithfully, +strode along in silence, and with such apparent unconcern and +carelessness that one would almost have expected him to trip over some +rotting stump, or in other way create some sound liable to reach the +ears of Hurley. But that was Hank's way. As a matter of fact, the +little fellow might be said to be all ears and eyes. He never seemed +to step aside, or to alter by the merest inch the length of his paces; +and yet contrast his movements with those of our hero. Joe was in a +fever; his eyes were glued to the ground, while his legs were flung +this way and that; for every second he seemed to see some lurking twig, +the smallest pressure upon which would send an alarm ringing through +the forest. + +Two hours later the light had failed to such an extent that it became +difficult to see the underwood, and the whole party was forced to +proceed as best they could, an occasional sharp crack showing that one +or other had stepped on a branch. + +"Seems to me as ef we was coming somewheres near water," said Hank, +after a long silence. "Somehow the air feels moister, and I've heard +tell as there are big lakes in this direction. What's that 'ere Injun +stopped for?" + +"Men been here before," exclaimed Mike, who had halted beside the +Indian as Hank came up. "Fox has found trees cut down; lumbermen +perhaps have been in this direction." + +"Seems to me as ef we was nigh clear of the forest too," said Hank. +"I've kinder felt water this past half-hour, and ef we pushes on a few +yards, seems to me we'll sight it. Ef so, Hurley aer closer than we +thought, for he'll have had his way stopped, and will have had to turn. +Let's git on." + +They proceeded again, but this time with added caution, and within a +little while suddenly broke their way out of the forest on to the bank +of a lake which seemed to be entirely surrounded by dense tree growth. +It was almost too dark to distinguish the size of this lake, though +Hank declared that it was very large. + +"What's more, we're at the far end of it," he said, with conviction, +"and ef I'm right, this Hurley ain't had to go so far out of his +course. He'll have cut to the right a little, and then straight north +again. I kin see his game too. He aer making for James Bay in the +hope that he may hit upon one of the Hudson Bay steamers going north. +It aer a long journey, but ef he could win through he'd be safer than +anywhere else. See here, he's gone right as I said he would." + +They turned along the trail again, this time in the gloaming, their +eyes now and again turned to the surface of the lake afar off, where +the rays of the setting sun were reflected. Not that they could see +the sun itself--that orb was entirely hidden by the trees--but perhaps +its light reached the water by way of some huge gap in the foliage at +present unseen by the little party. + +"A hut, 'way over there!" + +It was Mike who brought all to a sudden stop by this information, +sending them one and all to their knees, so as to make themselves less +visible. + +"Not as it aer likely as he could see us any more'n we could see him," +said Hank. "Still, it aer always wise to take precautions. Now I +guess there is jest one thing fer us to do. We want to strike right +off into the forest and skirt round till we're closer to that 'ere hut. +Of course, Hurley mayn't have stopped there; but then he may. Ef so, +like as not he'll be watchin' the trace he's left, and ef we continued +to follow it, he'd see us in half a jiffy." + +"Then let's get moving," cried Mike impatiently. "I'm for taking +Hurley the very first moment we can. But we shall have to rush him; +he's not the sort of fellow to give in without a struggle, and he'll +kick hard, you may say for certain." + +"He's bound to put lead into someone or sommat," agreed Hank dryly. +"We've got to get him cornered, and then attract his attention in one +direction while some of us rushes him from the other. Now, boys." + +"This way." Mike led the way beside the Indian, and once more the +little quartet dived into the forest, where giants towered on either +hand. Not that your wooded country in New Ontario can show such +enormous trees as are to be found much farther west, on the far side of +the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, to wit. For there a +favourable climate and a wonderfully fertile soil has caused monsters +to rear their heads to enormous heights, while the girth of some is +stupendous. But New Ontario can show some arboreal development that is +not to be despised, while in parts timber groups itself into great +forests, some of which have perhaps never yet seen a white man, though +the majority have by now witnessed the arrival of prospectors, and may +even have echoed to the ring of the lumberman's axe. + +Threading their way amongst the trees, and now and again having to +clamber over some fallen giant--for here, on the edge of the lake, the +trees were more exposed to winter winds, and some had suffered in +consequence--Joe and his friends gradually worked their way along till +opposite the part where the southern bank of the lake turned abruptly +north. Following this new direction, and creeping with the utmost care +through the undergrowth, it was some little while before they were +within sight of the hut which they had viewed from their first +position. It stood down by the water, thickly surrounded by +undergrowth, though the trees which had at one time no doubt reared +their heads there had been felled. It was just a small shack built of +logs and roofed with strips of bark. + +"Nigh falling to pieces too," whispered Hank, who had wonderful +eyesight. "Guess a lumber gang was 'way up here some little time back, +and that's where they worked and lived during the winter. The question +now aer this. Where's Hurley? Ef he's hidin' there we have him. Ef +he ain't, why, lookin' at the hut don't help us any, and merely lets +him get farther off." + +"We'll send Fox forward, then," answered Mike, his mouth close to +Hank's head, "unless you think that you----" + +"No, I don't say as I couldn't get there and back without even a +Redskin hearin' or seein' me," said Hank; "but then I might fail. And +it's jest sense ef you've got an Injun to make use of him. The +critters is that cunning, they'd nigh creep into a house and be sittin' +down beside you before a man was aware that they was there. They're +the silentest and the most cunnin' fellers as ever I did set eyes on. +Ef it wasn't that Hurley might be over yonder, I'd tell yer a yarn of +how a Redskin crawled into my camp one night and as near killed me as +possible. But send him off, while we lie down close." + +Sinking their bodies in the undergrowth, they lay still for some twenty +minutes, during which Fox was away from the spot. He went off towards +the hut with merely a low grunt to show that he knew what was expected +of him, and though Joe did his utmost to follow the man's track, there +was never a sound, never a waving bramble to show where Fox had gone. +Then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, our hero discovered the Indian +crawling in behind him. + +"Shucks!" grinned Hank, watching Joe. "I was wonderin' when you'd get +wind of him. That 'ere chap could ha' knifed or tomahawked you easy. +How did I know that he was comin'? That's what you're trying to ask. +Jest this way--you heard a frog croaking a while back?" + +Joe had; he had wondered where the beast was, and had listened to the +call three or four times repeated. He nodded in Hank's direction. + +"Wall, that war this here Injun cuss. It was jest his signal to let us +know as he was comin', so that we shouldn't get blazing into the bush +and shooting him. Seen anything?" he asked, swinging round on the +Indian, who, now that his task was accomplished, was seated +nonchalantly behind Mike, not venturing to give his news till he was +interrogated. + +"Seen the man," came the curt answer. "Tracks lead right to the shack. +Hurley lying down asleep, I think. Horses hidden in the forest to the +left." + +"Ah! Then this chase is drawin' to a close," said Mike, satisfaction +in his tones. "Hurley's there, fast asleep, perhaps. Seems as ef he +must have made up his mind that we'd stopped for the night. Guess we +can walk right in and take him--eh, Hank?" + +"Shouldn't, ef I was you; Hurley aer as cute as a hull bag o' monkeys. +True, he aer dead sleepy, onless he managed to get some sleep on his +hoss, which ain't altogether onlikely. Only he got knocked out of the +saddle, as you might easily expect. Supposin' he ain't asleep, but aer +lyin' hid there, you ain't going to take him so easy. Seems to me the +fust thing's to make sure of the hosses; then you kin creep in, and ef +you still ain't certain whether he's awake or asleep, why, one of us +kin kick up a rumpus close handy. That'll bring him out, when t'others +can jump on his back and take him." + +"Then Fox will see to the horses," declared Mike promptly. "We three +will creep up close to the house. As soon as Fox sends us his signal +we'll get closer, and if there's no sign of our man, we'll send Joe out +to draw him. Savvy, lad?" + +"Quite," said Joe. "I'll strike a blow with the butt of my rifle on +one of the trees and then sit down close to the trunk." + +"And keep out o' sight," advised Hank. "That ere the hull ticket, +Mike. There ain't no use waitin'. Jest now there's a little light; in +half an hour a fellow will want a pine knot flaring before his face ef +he wishes to know where he's going." + +Once more the little party was set in motion, Fox detaching himself +from the others. As for Joe, he crawled after Hank, every muscle of +his body vibrating. Every now and again his eyes went to the hut, now +easily distinguishable; for though it was dark within the forest, there +was still some light over the lake, while the hut itself stood +silhouetted against the fast-failing rays of the setting sun as they +fell aslant the water. Perhaps it took the trio ten minutes to reach +the shack. Perhaps the minutes were even shorter, though to our hero +the time seemed terribly long. His patience, indeed, was badly +strained before he had taken up what was to be his position. As for +Hank and Mike, they were lying down within ten feet of the shack, on +that side away from the door opposite which was Joe. It now only +remained for Fox to send his signal. As for Hurley, there was no sign +of him. He might have been a hundred miles away. Suddenly there came +a loud neigh from the depths of the forest, followed by another, and +then a whinnying which told of the presence of horses. Joe heard the +beasts stamping as if they were frightened, or as if the arrival of the +Redskin had caused them pleasure. In any case, the noise came to the +hut distinctly. A second later Joe imagined he heard a sound from +within. It was followed by the sudden appearance of a figure, bent +almost double, and rushing out into the open, as if some force were +behind him and propelling him. Indeed, long before our hero could lift +his weapon or could shout, Hurley--for he it undoubtedly was--had +bounded across the narrow open space about the shack and had dived into +the forest. + +"After him!" bellowed Mike at the top of his voice, as he plunged +through the bushes. As for Hank, no sound left his lips. The little +man trailed his rifle and went off after Hurley with his head down and +his ears pricked, and eager to catch every sound. Need the reader feel +surprised that Joe followed suit. Recovering from the utter +astonishment into which the sudden manoeuvre had thrown him, he gripped +his own weapon and darted after his comrades. He could hear them +directly to the front, and dashed headlong after them. Then his +already-wounded head came into somewhat violent contact with a branch, +and Joe sat down rapidly. But he pulled himself together after a +while, and, with his brain dizzy and buzzing, thrust his way onward +through the dense growth of trees and underwood. How long he continued +the effort he never knew. Suffice it to say that he made a desperate +endeavour to keep up with and gain upon his fellows. Then, of a +sudden, he discovered that there was not one single sound to direct +him. A minute before he had imagined he heard the crash of men dashing +through the forest; now there was a deathly silence all about him. He +stood still, panting, endeavouring to silence his own breathing and to +still the thud of his throbbing heart. No, not a sound but what was +made by himself. He shouted--not an answer; not a shout in return. He +called loudly on Hank and Mike to tell him of their direction. Then, +as the minutes passed and silence still surrounded him, he pushed +valiantly on amongst the trees, hoping every half-minute that there +would be a signal. Whether he went directly forward or retraced his +steps, or faced the east, the west, the south, or the north, Joe was +entirely ignorant. He was lost, in fact. The knowledge after a while +drove him frantic, so that he plunged aimlessly to and fro; then, +fortunately for him, perhaps, a second collision with a tree knocked +him senseless. For the moment his troubles were forgotten, though his +plight was still the same; and the plight of a man lost in the +backwoods of Canada is often enough desperate. Indeed, many a poor +fellow has gone, never to be found again, swallowed by the trees which, +as the years roll on, are felled to form the log huts of the settlers +crowding into the Dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A Hand-to-hand Encounter + +While Joe lies senseless in the depths of the forest, lost entirely to +his friends, and in as desperate a condition as he well could be, it +will be as well to follow the footsteps of Mike and Hank as they dashed +away in pursuit of Hurley. Both were well accustomed to the muskegs +and the timbered lands of Canada, and, if only the truth were known, +had before now been engaged in a similar expedition. But following a +murderer during the daytime through such a place, and at a sedate pace, +was entirely different from the same attempt at night, and all the +while at such speed that precautions could not be taken. + +"Ef that ain't the third time I've barged into a tree trunk and near +had all the breath knocked out of my body," growled Mike, when he had +progressed a mile, and was still well behind Hank. "Seems to me that +we should ha' done better to sit down and wait till morning, or lit +pine knots and then followed. Hank may do it; I shan't. This forest +fairly beats me." + +But Mike was a man possessed of wonderful perseverance and tenacity, +and, in spite of the numerous occasions on which he blundered into +trees, he held to the chase till he also, like Joe, lost his comrade. +He stood listening for a sound to tell him where Hank was striding +between the trees, then, hearing nothing after quite a long wait, the +wary and experienced Mike sat down in the most comfortable attitude he +could assume, dragged his ever-faithful pipe from his pocket, and, +having filled and lit the weed, puffed away philosophically. + +"Hurley ain't got nothing to fear from me, that's certain," he told +himself, not without some amount of disappointment and bitterness. +"But Hank is the boy to keep him running. The little chap is that +hard, he could keep at it all night and right into to-morrow, and he'll +stick to his man unless something clean throws him off the scent. For +me, reckon I'm trapped here. I'll have a smoke and then a sleep. +Early in the morning I'll consider things, and then push on or make +back to the hut, as seems best." + +Meanwhile Hank slid through the forest as only a practised hunter could +have done. It was on this night expedition that he proved his worth, +as also the value of an early training. For while Mike dashed so often +against a tree, and we know that Joe had done so to his own injury, +Hank seemed intuitively to know when a low-hung branch stretched across +the path he was following. More than that, somehow he contrived to +keep directly on the trail which Hurley was making. + +"I'm getting closer," he told himself, when a whole hour had passed. +"Any time now Hurley'll turn, and then, ef he don't climb down and cry +out that he's beaten, I'll have to put lead into his carcass. That's +him 'way ahead, making as much noise as a bull would ef he was +gallopin' through the forest." + +Loud bangs and crashes indeed told of Hurley's presence, for the trees +carried every sound, and accentuated most. It may be imagined, +therefore, that the sudden cessation of all noise astonished Hank +considerably. + +"Eh?" he asked himself, coming to a halt and standing perfectly still +so as to listen the better. Not that Hank's breath was coming fast, as +in the case of our hero; no, he was not even panting. His heart beats +were scarcely increased in number in spite of his exertions, which only +went to prove that constant training, correct diet, a good digestion, +and a happy and contented mind are advantages possessed by men such as +Hank who live their lives in the open. "Not so much as a sound," he +told himself. "Now, what has happened? Seems to me likely that Hurley +aer turned and ha' got his gun ready fer shootin'. Wall, an old bird +same as me don't get frightened jest because lead may be flyin'. It +wants a clever or a lucky man to make a hit in the darkness, specially +when there's tree trunks all round to give a fellow cover. I'm going +to move forward." + +He drew back the hammer of his gun, for Hank was a conservative little +fellow. + +"None of yer new-fangled guns fer me," he had said more than once. +"Mind you, I 'low as the new 'uns is fine, and has many advantages. A +chap can load and fire twenty times perhaps while I am fiddling with +this trigger. 'Sides, I've one myself, and know 'em well. But ef +there ain't likely to be quick firin', give me this old thing." + +Gripping the weapon in one hand, he bent double and went on stealthily, +and in five minutes he had gained some fifty paces. But of Hurley +there was no sign. The murderer gave no signal which told of his +whereabouts, and though Hank stole on farther, still there was nothing +to indicate where Hurley had got to. + +"Fair beats the band," growled Hank, beginning to doubt his own powers +of trackin'. "I'm past the spot where I last heard him, and I'm dead +sure he ain't been within ten yards. Hurley aer a town man, and I'm +game to say as he couldn't have sat so still as I should miss him. +This fair puzzles me--oh!" + +His keen ear heard something towards the left, then again there was +silence, save for the murmur of the breeze playing amongst the leaves +overhead. Hank slid in that direction promptly, only again he gave a +gasp of astonishment, and finally one of extreme annoyance; for it +seemed that he had missed Hurley's new path by but a very little. It +is not to be wondered at that he had not always been able to follow the +exact steps which the fugitive had taken, for he was tracking now not +by signs conveyed to him by leaves and sticks and bushes, but by sound +alone--the noise of the murderer as he broke his way through the +underwood. When that had ceased, Hank had lost direction slightly. He +had turned just a little to the right, whereas to the left, where +Hurley had passed, there was a curious clearing. It was a broad glade, +in fact the same through which the falling sun had sent its glancing +rays to the surface of the lake. Clear of trees, thickly covered with +grass, it offered a carpet which deadened all footsteps. No wonder +that Hank had heard nothing. It was a fortunate matter, indeed, that +some slight sound, perhaps his boot striking a pebble, had shown +Hurley's position. Hank bounded into the glade as if he had been shot +out of the forest. + +"Thunder!" he growled. "Ef that ain't the cutest move of any as he's +practised! He's made back towards the lake, that's fer certain. There +ain't no use in waitin'." + +Once more his gun was trailed, and this time, bent less low than +formerly, the little hunter went speeding off in the direction Hurley +had taken. Nor did the darkness trouble him, for whereas amongst the +trees it had been intensely dark, here in the glade it was +comparatively light, and a man with eyes such as Hank possessed could +detect every obstruction. + +We will leave him in pursuit of Hurley, and, having already shown Mike +calmly smoking in his leafy retreat, will once more visit our hero. +Joe was in a sad way, and it was, without shadow of doubt, a boon to +him that collision with a tree knocked him senseless, for but a few +moments before there had come to him that stupid, senseless frenzy +which comes to those who are lost. Even the brave man is not proof +against that frenzy. Sudden, nameless terror snatches at him; the very +silence mocks him, while calmness and reason, virtues of which he may +well have been the proud possessor earlier, leave him as if he were a +leper. Distraction, desperate and hopelessly unavailing effort follow, +and finally there comes exhaustion. The unhappy wretch who is entirely +lost may become calm when strength has left him, and die merely from +want of food and water; but more often madness is the enemy which +finally accounts for his ending. + +It was as well, therefore, for Joe that a severe blow on the head drove +all sense and knowledge from him. He lay like a log for hours, and if +we describe his condition faithfully, we must declare that the blow was +not entirely responsible. Joe was fagged out with his long efforts; it +happened, therefore, that a deep, refreshing sleep followed upon the +unconsciousness produced by collision, and carried him well on into the +morning. The shaded rays of a risen sun were streaming in upon his +leafy prison when he finally opened his eyes. + +"Hallo! Hank!" he called, and, getting no reply, turned to stare about +him. "My word, don't my head hurt just! Now, how's that? Why, if---- +Where am I?" + +His brain was still muddled, though wonderfully refreshed, and for +quite a little while he sat thinking, trying to remember exactly what +had happened. Then the knowledge of his true position came to him--he +was lost in the forest. + +"And made a fine ass of myself, to be sure," he cried, remembering his +fears of the previous evening. + +"Lost my head; got scared at the silence, and then went barging right +and left. This is the dickens of a muddle. Here am I, goodness knows +where. Anyway, in Canada, I'm dead certain." + +That set him laughing--for Joe was a merry fellow--moreover, the warm +rays of the sun streaming down upon him, together with the fact that +the past few days had accustomed him to his surroundings, cheered him +wonderfully. He began to whistle, an old habit, and then recollected +that he was hungry. + +"I'll be better for some food, that's certain," he told himself. "I +can't think properly as yet. But there's one thing I am sure of--I +behaved like a child of two last night. I clean lost my head, and am +jolly glad there wasn't anyone else here to watch me. My, how Hank +would laugh, and Fennick too! Wonder how he and his wife are doing, +and Jim and Claude too. Wonder, also, whether Hurley's captured." + +Quite accidentally his hand fell into the bag which he had suspended +over his shoulder, and it was with a gasp of pleasure that he +remembered that provisions were inside. Joe dragged them out, and, +just to show his independence, gathered some sticks and lit a fire. +Water was what he wanted now, and a search for that commodity told him +still more of his own condition of mind on the previous evening; for +his way took him along the track he had himself formed, and presently +he came to a part which looked very much as if a circus horse had been +driven there, and forced to carry out all sorts of evolutions. Tracks +led through the underwood to right and left, crossed one another, and +joined sometimes so that two or three were side by side. In one he +came upon his rifle, a find which caused him pleasure; but where the +outlet was, in what direction he had been coming when he reached this +spot, Joe could discover not the smallest inkling. + +"Anyway, there's water," he said, filling the kettle which he carried +slung to his belt, and which had received a sad battering in the +forest. "Jolly glad I've got the tea--that'll put life into me--then +I'll have to think this matter out; shouldn't wonder if a shot wouldn't +bring an answer." + +It was a brilliant idea, and cheered him wonderfully. Let us say, too, +that Joe needed cheering. In spite of his undoubted courage, and of a +naturally cheery disposition, the terror of the intense silence of his +huge prison sometimes almost got the better of him. It was with an +obvious effort that he beat down the feeling. Retracing his steps to +the fire and busying himself with his cooking preparations helped him +wonderfully, and when at length he had swallowed a hot cup of tea and +had eaten a couple of grilled slices of meat he felt distinctly better. + +"I'll try a shot now," he told himself, "then I'll think matters out. +I wonder in what direction I came--beats me hollow." + +He was in the act of loading, for he had withdrawn the cartridge popped +into his gun on the previous evening, when a sound suddenly reached his +ears and caused him to sit bolt upright. + +"Eh?" he asked himself. "Hank or Mike or Fox perhaps. Hope so." + +There it was again, the noise made by a man thrusting a way through the +underwood. Joe gathered up his belongings, stamped out the fire, and +went off in that direction. Bang! Crash! He heard the noise time and +again, and getting nearer. It seemed, indeed, as if someone were +coming towards him. Perhaps five minutes later, when, convinced of the +fact, he had thrown himself down to wait and watch, the figure of a man +came into view, seen somewhat indistinctly between the maze of leaves +and branches. + +"Mike!" thought Joe. "About his size. No; too small, though it's a +big man but less bulky than Mike. Can't be Hank. Then who is it? +Hurley!" + +The knowledge that the murderer was actually before him sent a rush of +blood to Joe's head. His ears throbbed and buzzed, his pulses beat +spasmodically, while his heart thundered against his ribs. + +"Hurley!" + +Joe climbed silently to his feet and raised his rifle. He now could +see the man approaching him better, and could no longer have any doubt +as to who it was. It was, without a question, the murderer whom he had +fought outside the shack in defence of Tom, the very man Hank and his +fellows, with Mike, the policeman, had been following now for such a +time. + +"Hurley! Still escaping! Then Hank failed to get him! Where's his +gun?" + +Joe peered through the leaves and branches, and presently caught a +glimpse of the weapon which it was known the murderer carried. He bore +it before him, fending brambles away with it as he went. That gun, no +doubt, was loaded, and Hurley still able and willing to slay anyone who +dared to intercept him. What was Joe to do? Let him go? Funk the +business, or call to him and chance a bullet? + +"Nasty thing if he hit me here; nobody would know. I might be badly +wounded and help never reach me. Rotten that, very!" + +Joe shivered. We are describing his feelings and his actions with the +utmost truth and fairness, and truth compels us to say that he +shivered. He looked about him doubtfully, seeing nothing but leaves +and waving branches and underwood, with the figure of a man he knew to +be already a murderer breaking a path through the forest quite near at +hand, while a rifle was borne prominently before him. Bear in mind, +too, that Joe had had a terrifying experience already, that he still +bore a wound given by the bully, while his scalp was sore and his brain +still dizzy with the collisions he had experienced on the previous +evening. + +"He'll miss me by fifteen feet," said Joe, measuring the distance with +his eye. "If I like to stay quiet he'll be by in a jiffy, and +then--then I'll be safe!" + +He could have kicked himself for the thought; the blood flew to his +cheeks again and shamed him. He clenched his teeth and bobbed his head +higher. + +"Frightfully tempting to funk the meeting," he told himself wrathfully; +"but I'll not be such a coward. + +"Hurley!" he shouted. + +The man stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting into sudden prominence. + +[Illustration: JOE SURPRISES HURLEY] + +"Hands up!" bellowed Joe, keeping well hidden. "Hands up or----" + +There was a loud report which reverberated through the wood, while a +rattle overhead told its tale unpleasantly. A shower of severed leaves +sprayed on to Joe's head, while he listened to a curious click with +which soldiers are familiar. + +"Loading again--might get me next time. Shall I plug him?" he asked +himself. + +Very cautiously he lifted his rifle, and with it his head, which he had +ducked at Hurley's shot. But where was the man? There was no sign of +him. He had disappeared entirely. + +"Dropped down where he was, and is waiting and watching. Dead certain +he isn't moving," said Joe, "or I'd hear him. I'll wait and watch too." + +Presently his patience was rewarded. A black sleeve came into +view--only a tiny triangle showing--then the muzzle of the weapon. Joe +levelled his own on the sleeve and called again loudly. + +"Drop that gun, Hurley," he shouted roughly, "or take the consequences!" + +The answer came so swiftly that he was astonished, and once again our +hero had the unpleasant feeling of a bullet passing within close +distance of him. Under the circumstances it required nerve to kneel a +little higher, take aim just a foot below the spot where he had seen +that sleeve, and press his own trigger. Then, like a dart, he sprang +away, and within a moment was located behind a stout birch tree, which +gave excellent cover. + +"Got him, I think," he gasped. "There was a shout directly I fired. +Wonder if I killed him?" + +The thought set his ears tingling and a nasty cold feeling down the +centre of his back. Joe wasn't bloodthirsty by any means. He hated +the very thought of killing a man; but here it was decidedly a case of +Hurley or himself. Softness and pity would be thrown away on such a +villain; the smallest advantage allowed would certainly end in his own +undoing. It was with the utmost caution, then, that our hero peeped +out from behind cover, while his fingers were busily employed in +thrusting a fresh cartridge into his rifle. Moreover, he listened +eagerly for any sound which might tell him that Hurley was moving. Joe +had, in fact, an artful and cunning foe to deal with, and quickly found +that he was very far from effecting his purpose, also that the murderer +was by no means likely to give in without a struggle. For as he peeped +from behind the shelter of his tree a figure rose suddenly, a weapon +was fired, and at the same instant down went the figure. + +"Thunder!" he exclaimed, using an exclamation which Hank was in the +habit of employing. "That was a near one; chipped a nice little piece +out of the bark of the tree and--yes, perforated the butt of my rifle." + +Very cautiously he peered round the tree again, and then, with a sudden +feeling of elation, caught sight of a black object slowly rising above +the undergrowth. Joe dropped his sights on it and pressed the trigger +steadily; but, to his amazement, the black object continued to rise for +the space of a few seconds, then it dropped just as suddenly out of +view. + +"Huh!" he grunted. "A decoy! Lifted his coat on a stick and drew my +fire. Two can play at that game." + +But even if he were to follow Hurley's example, caution and cunning +were still required. Joe dropped on to hands and knees and then spread +himself face downwards on the ground. In that position he wormed his +way along some three yards to the right, where he again took cover +behind a tree, and on this occasion he lifted his head with the +greatest care. + +"He'll be watching the tree where I was located," he told himself, "and +if I wait a little he'll show himself, seeing that I don't put in an +appearance. Then will be the time to aim straight, for I am sure that +if I don't take the fullest advantage of every opportunity he will +shoot me down." + +"That 'ere young cub that was the cause of most of my trouble," growled +Hurley, as he lay on the ground awaiting developments. "Wall, it might +ha' been wuss; I kin knock him out easy ef I'm just ordinarily +cautious, then there won't be no one in the way. I'll double the hull +way back--that's what I'll do--get along to the railway, and board a +freight train. Down by Niagara Falls there won't be no difficulty in +hoppin' across the suspension bridge, and afore these fools is much the +wiser I'll be hid up in Buffalo." + +His keen eye detected Joe's new position, and, watching closely, he +soon saw a portion of the latter's clothing projecting from behind the +tree. Up went his rifle, and an instant later the clothing fell to the +ground. With a shout of triumph, Hurley stood to his feet, only to +drop back again like a stone; for Joe was undamaged. He had merely +played Hurley's trick upon himself, and now that the opportunity had +come to him, he stood out from cover and fired direct at the man. +Unfortunately, however, he was too late, his bullet tearing on through +the undergrowth. + +"The young cuss!" growled Hurley, startled by his narrow escape. "But +I'll get even with him yet. Ef he can play a game same as that, see me +foller." + +He thought it all out as he lay there in the underwood, and then once +again selected a suitable portion of a fallen branch. This time it was +his wide-brimmed hat which he raised slowly above the leaves and ferns. +But though Hurley peered from amidst the tangle of boughs and leaves, +he could see no sign of our hero. It was an intense surprise to him +when there came a flash and a loud report from the left, from an +altogether different position, while his hat twiddled round on the +branch he had thrust into it. + +"Jingo! He's shootin'!" he told himself, with a growl. "Lucky my head +warn't in there. But I ain't done, not by a long way. I'll try the +trick agin, and then I fancy I shall have a surprise fer that 'ere +Britisher." + +Very slowly he proceeded to elevate his hat again, and this time so +soon after the last that he guessed that Joe would hardly have had time +to change his position. So that it was again a shock to find a bullet +swishing rather from the right. However, Hurley was a man with an iron +nerve; moreover, he knew what awaited him should he be captured. +Straightway leaping to his feet and trusting to Joe not having had time +to reload, he dashed into the bush and, seeing our hero, threw himself +upon him furiously. Nor did he deign to make use of his own weapon. +Dropping it as if it were no longer of use, he gripped Joe with both +hands and, swinging him aloft as he had done once before, he prepared +to hurl him against a tree. Indeed, he almost carried out that +intention; but Joe managed to curl in his legs and so escape. + +"You're jest about dead this time," gasped Hurley. "You'd have done +far better to have stayed right at home with the kids, which are yer +place, than have come out here to take grown men. That'll finish it." + +But the second swing he gave didn't finish the matter. Joe was a +tougher foe to deal with than Hurley imagined, for, locking his arms +round the murderer, he defied his every effort to lift him. But all +the while he was conscious of the fact that the man was a great deal +stronger than he, and that unless he could deal him a vital blow, his +own chances were far from good. It was at this critical moment, when +the two were once more struggling fiercely and had rolled to the +ground, that a man came darting through the underwood. Dashing up to +the combatants, he placed the muzzle of his old gun against the +murderer's head and called loudly on him to surrender. + +"You may jest as well throw it up, Hurley," he said, with wonderful +coolness, "fer I guess you're cornered. 'Sides, ef you're troublesome +you're like to get the sort o' dustin' a feller don't take to kindly. +So jest turn it up. Joe, get a hold of his rifle. Now, my man, you +stand there agin the tree and don't try hanky-panky. I ain't +particular whether it's the law that deals with yer or me. Savvy?" + +Hurley did; he unloosed his grip of our hero promptly and, now that the +tables were turned, stood cowed and subdued in front of Hank, eyeing +his old muzzle-loader askance. As for Hank, he grinned at Joe. + +"It war a near call, lad," he said. "Strange that it should be you as +really cornered him. But keep yer eye on him and yer finger on your +trigger. There ain't never no saying when he'll be up to games, though +it won't be often he'll play 'em once Mike's up. He could lift this +hulkin' feller as ef he war a baby, and my, wouldn't he give him sauce!" + +Some twenty minutes later Fox put in an appearance, and after him Mike. +Hurley was promptly secured, his hands being bound behind his back, for +Mike had lost his handcuffs, while a stout cord was passed from the +lashings and secured to Fox's wrist. Then the party wended their way +through the forest, and in a wonderfully short space of time came to +the hut in which Hurley had taken refuge. Here their comrades joined +them in the evening. + +"It war a close call," said Peter, when he had heard of Joe's +adventure; "but I ain't quite clear as to how it come about that you +was out there in the forest all alone. Spin us the yarn." + +"I was lost, that's the simple explanation," answered Joe, telling them +how he had dashed hither and thither in a frenzy, and how a collision +with a tree had in the end sent him senseless to the ground. "And a +mighty big bump I've got to show for it," he added ruefully. + +"You're jest mighty lucky to have one to show at all, young feller," +growled Hank. "I ain't been in these parts without meeting with +similar cases. I've known young fellers, and oldish men too, go off +into the timber and never come back. I've seed a ghost of one crawl +back after a week, and he as mad as a hatter. What's more, I know what +the feelin' of bein' lost is. An old hunter same as me don't never +feel like that. When I war young it war different. Nowadays I could +find my way out anywhere. I'd do as you did, doss down fer the +night--so I reckon that blow you got war lucky,--then, when morning +came, I'd watch fer the sun, and I'd go ahead always in one direction; +but it seems to me as ef supper war ready." + +"One moment," said Joe. "How was it you came upon the scene so +opportunely, Hank?" + +"How? Jest like this, and simple enough. This 'ere Hurley give me the +slip, and shot out into a glade. Wall, a bit of a rattle as he passed +over a stony patch told me the direction he had taken, and precious +soon I had picked up his traces again. Seems he took to the lake, +straddling a log he found there and pushing out. But the wind war on +this shore and brought him back. Early this mornin' I dropped on his +traces and found as he'd turned south. Mike come along with Fox at the +same moment, and reckon we set out fer all we war worth. It war then +that we heard a shot, and then others. That set me movin', and--wall, +that's all." + +He closed up like an oyster, and actually blushed when Joe continued. +"Not all, Hank," he said earnestly; "you saved my life. I'm grateful." + +"Gee! Ef I ain't that hungry!" shouted Hank, springing to his feet +hurriedly. "George, ain't you got them steaks frizzled yet?" + +"Ready," came the answer, while George held a stick to which the steaks +were skewered aloft. + +"Then we'll eat," growled Hank, as if he had recently had a quarrel +with our hero; "and mind, there ain't no more gassin'." + +"He aer fair set on you," whispered Peter, after the meal, taking Joe +aside. "He knew you was in trouble, and I tell you he wouldn't rest. +All night he war searchin' for your traces, and ef he hadn't bustled, +guess he'd have reached you too late. Hank aer the queerest little +morsel as ever I set eyes on." + +"He's a fine fellow," declared Joe eagerly. "Some day I'll get even +with him." + +The following morning they mounted again, and in due course reached the +settlements, where the party divided. + +"Hank's comin' along to stay with us," said Peter. "How's that, young +'un?" + +"Ripping!" Joe meant it; he had taken a huge fancy to the little +hunter, and hoped, if he were lucky, to learn a great deal more from +him. + +"You'll do that right enough," laughed Peter, when our hero told him. +"Hank aer a troublesome feller. It ain't often that I hear of him that +he ain't been in some adventure. Jest you watch to see that he don't +drag you in too. I don't altogether trust the little varmint." + +"Drat the man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike. "Joe was a steady worker afore +he came here; but now, bless us! he's always wantin' to be off into the +wilds and forests." + +And go Joe did. He worked all through the summer and autumn, helping +Peter to get in his harvest, and learning much about farming; then, +leaving Tom, the lad for whom he had fought, as Peter's man in his +place, he packed his bag and rode off with Hank on a prospecting +expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Investing Hard-earned Dollars + +Barely six months had passed since Joe Bradley took passage to Canada +and became one of the ever-growing army of immigrants who yearly ascend +the mighty St. Lawrence river and are scattered throughout the +provinces of the Dominion. The days had flown since his landing, and +but for that long chase of Hurley, the murderer, scarcely an event had +happened to break through the orderliness of his day's duties. No +longer was he a greenhorn, either. His knowledge of farming as it is +practised in England may be said to have been still extremely small, +but of farming in the Dominion he knew almost enough to manage a +quarter section of his own. + +"Not that I advise it," said the cautious and knowing Peter. "You're +over young yet to face the worries which must come to a landowner, and +you could do with more capital. So you take the advice of one who's +tried, and go as a labourer a bit longer. Meanwhile, you could put +that 'ere money you've saved into something likely to make it grow +whilst you're prospecting with Hank." + +Joe had, in fact, saved quite a respectable amount, for it must be +remembered that his personal expenses were extremely small, while his +wages were good. Moreover, the dollar bills which Hurley had stolen +from him had been recovered when that individual was captured, though +the precious letter left him by his father seemed to have been lost for +ever. + +"It war a piece of luck, I do declare," said Peter. "Ef he'd gone off +along the railway there would have been a different tale to tell. Joe +aer fortunate to have come out of that mess with his life, and still +more lucky to have got back his dollars. As to the letter, there ain't +no saying if it war valuable. P'raps not; least, that's what I'm +hoping. And now the thing's to invest his savings so as they'll grow +while he's away prospecting. Seems to me, Hank, as ef this here place, +as well as the settlement right up agin the railroad, might soon get +big. The land's good for working. The crops this year has been +first-class, and some of our boys has won prizes for their wheat. +There's Jim, fer instance. His was nigh the heaviest yield per acre +that there's been recorded, while the grain weighed mighty heavy to the +bushel. In course the papers prints and publishes all these things, +and people gets to know. There's been strangers hereabouts looking fer +sections to take up come the summer. Wall?" + +Hank was not the one to give an opinion offhand. He cogitated a great +deal, and as a rule his faithful little pipe helped him considerably, +or rather it appeared to help him, for it was his invariable custom to +fill it on such occasions, set fire to the weed, and sit crouched into +a ball, holding the pipe between two of his shapely fingers while he +stared into the open. In this case there was no open, for they were +seated in Mrs. Strike's parlour, and Hank had perforce to stare into +the open stove, which is part and parcel of every settler's dwelling. + +"Never did see such a man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike impatiently. "He's +all movement, you tell me, when he's off in the forest; but here, when +you want his advice, he jest sits down and blinks, till you feel as ef +you could shake him. I ain't got no patience with the man." + +Peter grinned widely; he was accustomed to his wife's ways--and Joe +also--knowing well that it was all playfulness on her part. As for +Hank, the little man whom nothing daunted, as a rule, he pulled heavily +at his pipe and looked as if he might take to his heels and run away. +He glanced askance at Mrs. Strike, till the good woman smiled at him. + +"I'm only teasing you," she explained, with a laugh. "But, dear, dear! +you do amuse me. Seems to me as ef I shouted you'd be scared almost +out of your life." + +That set Hank grinning also--a nervous grin--then he became solemn, for +matters which concerned the welfare of Joe needed the utmost attention. + +"I'm with you, Peter," he said at last. "Down by the railroad +things'll move soon. A few dollars laid out in town plots wouldn't +come to harm, while ef we was both to apply for quarter sections right +here, we could sell 'em at the break of winter to new settlers anxious +not to be too far out. What about Hurley's, by the way?" + +"That aer fer sale now," came the answer. "He didn't do much to it, +and there don't seem no one wanting it just now, which are natural, +seeing that winter's here. Come next spring it'll be asked for." + +"Then there's Joe's chance. Ef he ain't got enough dollars, I'll chip +in with him. Eh?" + +"Ready and willing," agreed Joe. "I like the idea immensely. Hank and +I are off into the woods prospecting, and we're not likely to want much +cash. Seems to me it's a wise thing to put what I have where it may +grow during my absence. I'll apply for a quarter section right here. +It's a condition of the Government that all settlers shall fence their +sections in a given time, and break so much of the virgin ground. I +can't do that now, as we have hard frosts, and things are too cold for +working. In the spring, if I like to, I can tackle the job. If not, I +can sell; then I'll buy Hurley's if I can, and sell that again also." + +Buying and selling is the life and soul of Canada. Land speculators +purchase from the Government with the sole idea of selling to those who +follow, and see in the land for sale something with greater attractions +than that offered free by the authorities. Again, men must fail in +such a country, and here and there are always to be found those +unfortunate enough to have to offer their sections, on which they may +have expended much toil already. Whereas a quarter section of virgin +land, extending to one hundred and sixty acres in all, may be of little +value when unbroken, broken and fenced it is almost always of +considerably enhanced value; for breaking and fencing mean the +expenditure of labour, and labour is terribly hard to come by at times +in the Dominion. + +"We'll go along and see into the matter to-morrow, then," said Peter, +when the question had been further discussed. "Jest throw on a log or +two, Joe; it's cold enough to freeze one even inside the shack." + +Those few days which followed gave our hero some idea, though not a +complete one, it must be acknowledged, of the life of settlers in +Canada during the long and severe winter which visits the land. There +are those who dread the winter. One meets occasionally a man who has +returned to England because of the Canadian winter, because of the +inertia it brings to great stretches of the country, stopping all +outside work, and, on the farms, cutting off neighbours from +intercourse with one another. At other times it is the loneliness and +silence of the life which send would-be settlers away; but not very +often. There are scores and scores who put up with the winter as we in +England put up with decidedly dispiriting weather, resting tranquilly +and passing the idle hours as best they can, knowing well that a +glorious summer will surely follow. + +"Not that there's fogs and suchlike," explained Peter, when telling Joe +of the life. "Most days its beautifully sunny and bright, though the +thermometer may be down below zero. And as to stayin' indoors all the +while, that we don't. Most of us has knocked up runners, on which we +put the rigs when we've stripped the wheels from 'em. Jim down below +thar being a bachelor, with plenty to spend, and being also a good bit +of a sportsman, has dogs, and his team drags him from shack to shack, +specially round about Christmas. Even the school children get to +school on their snowshoes. There ain't no difficulty about that +neither, onless the weather's too altogether bad, for the Government +build schools fer each settlement. There only wants to be a matter of +seven children, and up goes a stone-built school, and a mistress who's +properly trained for the job gets a lodging in the nearest shack, or in +the school itself, and starts off to teach the youngsters. As to work, +wall, I finds heaps. Winter's jest the time for papering the walls of +the shack or fer doing a bit of painting. There's furniture wants +making, and last winter I and the hand that stayed with us built a new +stable. This time I'll whitewash all the outhouses, as well as the +fowlhouse." + +"And for me there's enough and to spare to keep me from being idle or +from grumbling," interjected Mrs. Strike. "There's the house, in the +first place, with the beds to make and sichlike. There's food to be +cooked fer all, including the chickens, which have hot stuff every day +through the winter. And ef I'm dull with looking at Peter there, I've +only to go to the telephone and ring up Mrs. George Bailey. A real +nice woman that, Joe. She's a help to her husband, she is, and that +can't be said of every woman who's come out from England and has lived +her life till then in a villa just outside London, with never any +greater difficulty to provide for her family than that of stepping +along the street to the nearest shop. If they was all like her, +there's many settlers would be more successful." + +It was clear that Peter and his wife could have kept on discussing this +theme for an hour or more; and to those who knew them it was equally +certain that these two worthy souls practised exactly as they preached. +They had faced the difficulties and the privations often met with in +greater number by early settlers, and they had succeeded. Peter was a +man who, thanks to hard work and a genial temperament, had made a +success of his quarter section, so that the land which had lain bare +for centuries before was now entirely tilled, and yielded handsomely to +his efforts. In fact, from the position almost of a pauper, the man +had advanced to a point where he earned a handsome income that was more +than sufficient for his needs, and allowed him to put by many dollars +during the course of a year. + +"And it ain't finished there," he told Joe and Hank gleefully, when +dilating on the subject. "There's the quarter section. It's worth a +tidy heap of dollars--more'n a thousand pounds in English money--and +that's what I could get any day of the year. But I don't stand still, +not never." + +"I've had my eyes around, and have gone in as a partner with a brother +of mine who came out to Canada at the same time. We worked together +for a while, then he went west into British Columbia. Wall, he took up +fruit land when irrigation wasn't much more'n dreamed of and, with +dollars I put to his, bought two sections close handy. They're gold +mines. He's been able to get labour, and seeing that he has a large +family of sons and daughters able to work and help, why, it's only +needed honest work to tickle the soil and put in the trees to turn over +a fine penny; the land does all the rest. It's that fertile it grows +astonishing crops of apples, while peaches, strawberries, and sichlike +do thundering well. Tom--that's my brother--was mighty wise and lucky +too; he took up ground within easy reach of Vancouver, so that he +always has a close market for his goods, putting aside the fact that it +allowed him to watch things going on, and buy other bits of land when +he thought they were likely to go up in value. That's where some of my +dollars has gone. Me and the missus will be sellin' up one o' these +fine days, and going west where it's warmer." + +Joe was bound to admit that the cold did not trouble him. Not that the +winter had as yet set in in full severity, though there had been heavy +frosts and a fall of snow; but, as Peter had told him, he always found +work to do. Even those few days before departing with Hank were +strenuous ones. There were logs to saw for the stove, for the huge +iron thing which warmed the shack, and which is essential to a Canadian +winter, ate timber wholesale. Then there were the cattle to be tended +to--for they required feeding, since they could not graze for +themselves--there were the pigs also, while always water was wanted +inside the shack, and must be drawn from the well which had been one of +Peter's labours. + +Of an evening, too, while the weather was so open, George and his +brother, Jim and other neighbours would drive over, and there would be +a jovial supper, followed by a dance, when Mrs. Strike bustled Joe +tremendously, till the rough furniture was cleared aside and the +boarded floor made ready for the dancers. Then it was Hank's turn, and +sometimes Jim's, though Hank was the one who usually obliged. Seated +cross-legged in a corner, his face as serious as if he had an army of +Redskins after him, the curious and lovable little fellow would bend +over his concertina and send forth such notes, that dancing became easy +even to the most clumsy. + +Those were jolly days. The jovial and friendly fellow who had come out +from England had found not a set of desperadoes in the settlers of the +Dominion, but men and women just as he had known at home, with only the +difference which climate and environment necessarily bring. Hard +workers, they liked Joe because he was like them in that, and because +of his modesty. They liked him, too, because of his open admiration of +the country of his adoption and the life he led. + +"Ef they was all like you there never wouldn't be any squabbling," said +Peter; "but Canadians is getting to understand the Britisher better. +He's coming out in greater numbers now, and sense he and we are the +backbone of the country, why, we're fools if we ain't friends." + +It was on a bright, clear, frosty morning that Hank and Joe climbed +into Peter's rig and, with that worthy driving, set off for the nearest +station. Mrs. Strike wiped her eyes as they went, for she was +genuinely fond of them, while Tom shook Joe's hand as if he would +wrench it off and hold it as a keepsake. An hour later they were +aboard the train, and could see Peter driving back home to the +settlement. + +"Guess he's a good fellow, and deserves to succeed," said Hank, +settling himself into a corner. "When next we see him it'll be spring +or later hereabouts, and things will have changed wonderfully. +There'll be a pile of people here compared with what's settled now. +That's always the case; every year makes a huge difference. Shouldn't +wonder if the plots you've bought didn't bring you in a small fortune; +but of course it's a toss up." + +Joe watched the surroundings as they pulled out of the station, noting +the many shacks in the distance, and the fact that nearer the railway +some of the older settlers had replaced their log dwellings by +neatly-boarded houses. It was close to some of these that he himself, +with the advice of Hank and Peter, had purchased certain portions of +vacant ground in the hope that, as time passed, a township might spring +up, and thereby make his purchases more valuable. As to Hurley's +quarter section, the winter being on them, it happened that there was +no one who cared to purchase, and Joe had picked it up at a very modest +figure. + +"You jest forget all about them things and set yer mind to the +expedition we're after," said Hank, after a while. "Fust we goes along +to Sudbury, where we can buy all that we want; then we sets off for +Fennick's. Guess we'll put in a week with him, and then strike off for +the country we're after. Maybe we'll get a bit of huntin', and seems +to me we should be wise, for a pelt or two will be useful for +bedcovering. Of course you've got to be able to stand the cold, +youngster. There's lots would think this job but madness. But a man +can easy stand the winter ef he's in hard condition, and particularly +ef he's in amongst the forests. As to bear, why, seeing as they +hibernate, there ain't much chance of meeting the beasts, though it do +happen sometimes that one of them gets disturbed, and then, ef he ain't +too sleepy, jest you look out fer ructions. I don't know of any animal +that's so tarnation dangerous as a bear, 'cept perhaps a caribou, and +he's jest every bit as bad as, they tell me, is a rhinoceros. Ever +hunted, lad?" + +Joe was forced to admit that he had not. "Never had the chance," he +answered. "Minding a cycle shop for Father didn't give one +opportunities of going hunting, and besides, there isn't much to be had +in England, not of the sort you mean." + +Of a sudden, as they sped along in the train, his thoughts went back to +the little township in which he had spent his boyhood, till the moment +had arrived for him to emigrate. He could not help but contrast his +condition here in Canada with what it had been there, and with what it +might have been had he remained. Travel and the wide expanse of New +Ontario lands had broadened Joe's mind, as it is bound to broaden the +outlook that any traveller takes of the world. Joe was, in fact, +beginning to realize that there is some truth in the statement that +travel is one of the finest educations. + +"In course it is," asserted Hank, when he broached the subject, with +the idea of starting up a conversation with the little hunter. "How +could it fail to be? Don't I know the lives of them stay-at-homes. +They work hard, no doubt. They does their whack of toil that helps to +make the earth turn round, as you might say, and keep things hummin'; +but, 'cept for the papers and sichlike, they ain't got two ideas as to +what other people's like, what they does with themselves, and how they +lives. And there's more, too, ef I could tell you. Stay-at-homes is +sometimes narrow-minded. Narrow-mindedness gives rise to suspicion, so +that it follows that men who are ignorant of one another's affairs and +of all that concerns 'em is often not too good friends. That's how it +is with nations. One don't know the other, and suspects all sorts of +things. Wall, see what's happenin'. The railways and the steamships +and them motor cars has made a deal of difference. People move about a +heap these days and see other people. So they get to understand 'em, +and, understandin' them, they see as they ain't much different to +themselves; also, they see that their intentions are just as friendly +as their own. And what follows? Why, better understanding, and the +way is paved to international friendships. Dear, how jawin' do tire a +man! I'm on fer a smoke." + +He shut up like the proverbial oyster, leaving Joe to go on immersed in +his own particular brown study. He was wondering now what the Fennicks +had been doing with themselves, for though he had had a few lines from +them, he had had but the scantiest information; he had heard, in fact, +that they had settled, and that was all. Whether they had been +fortunate in finding exactly the class of surroundings they desired, +and whether the land they had chosen was rich, he had no idea. This he +knew, they were a two-days' march from the railway, so that he and Hank +had a long step before them. + +"Guess we'll fill up at Sudbury," said Hank, after a while. "There's a +gun wanted fer you, and ammunition for both of us. A shooter, too, +ain't out of the way. We shall require warm clothing, too, though +we'll trust to our shooting to get us pelts and make the most of those. +A kettle, a fry-pan, and a few sich trifles will fill our kit, and then +we'll step it to the Fennicks'. Guess we ain't so far from Sudbury +now." + +They found all they required in the town to which they had booked on +the railway, and laid out quite a number of dollars in buying +necessaries for their journey; for Hank insisted that salt, sugar, +coffee, and tea were as necessary to them as were bullets. Each bought +three pairs of thick socks, as well as roughly-fashioned fur gloves. +The cooking equipment presented no difficulties, while neither bothered +to buy extra boots. + +"They'd load us up, that's all," said Hank; "besides, they ain't no use +with snowshoes. You wait a bit till we're well away. We'll bag a few +beasts that will give us skins, and then ef Hank can't make moccasins +and caps and sichlike, why, all his eddication in the woods is lost. +We've got enough as it is to carry, and come the time we reaches up at +Fennicks' we'll be sorry we brought so much." + +"What about some sort of covering for the night?" asked Joe, who was as +yet ignorant on such matters. + +"Coverin'?" asked Hank, scratching his head. + +"Yes; surely we shall need it. It'll be frightfully cold, that is, if +the story I have heard is true." + +"True enough, lad," agreed Hank; "only, yer see, you and I'll be movin' +every day, and exercise on snowshoes warms a man's blood. I know lots +of young fellows who go off from their farms when snow's lyin' +everywhere and the thermometer is 'way down below zero; but their +shirts is open in front jest as ef it war summer, while they ain't got +no use fer gloves. We'll be much the same, while at night a lean-to--a +double lean-to, you understand--made by driving two forked sticks into +the snow and laying one across the forks, with others leaning up agin +it, will give us a crib that couldn't be beaten fer warmth. I kin hear +folks that stays at home always shiverin' talkin' of rheumatism; but +there ain't nothing of that. A man who starts healthy through a +Canadian winter can keep healthy. Of course there's blizzards, and +nasty, dangerous things they are! I've laid in one of them lean-to +shacks as I've mentioned fer a week together till the snow was piled +deep over the top, and would ha' broken through ef I hadn't crawled out +every few hours and beaten it down. Cold? It warn't! It war hot +inside that 'ere crib. As fer lonely, wall, to some folks it might be, +but to me and mates like me--no, not bit! There's always a gun wants +cleaning; logs has to be broke and the fire kept going, and there's tea +and sichlike to prepare; while in between a man's got his pipe, and can +smoke and think. Thinkin' ain't bad fer a man, nor fer a woman, ef it +comes to that. There's many a time 'way back in my life when I might +ha' done different and better. Wall, then, rememberin' that aer good; +it's a sort of eddication. Then there's friends that you've knowed and +had high times with. Guess it's when a man gets stuck up in a +blizzard, with only his pipe to smoke, that he gets thinking of his old +pals, wondering what they're doing, where they are, and how the world +aer going fer them generally." + +"But what about frostbite?" asked Joe, for that was a bogy which had +been presented to him in glaring colours. + +Hank laughed, a silent little laugh which shook every inch of his frail +body. "Them old woman's tales was invented to scare new folks out from +home," he said. "There's frostbites and there's frostbites. I ain't +saying that they don't exist, but a hunter don't often get 'em, unless +he's held up somewheres and can't get cover. His blood runs strong and +hot most times, and the frost don't touch him. But it's the man who +ain't used to the cold, and who huddles up in a shack most of the day, +that gets bitten. Ef he's sensible, or has sensible friends, it don't +make much harm to him. Ef not, like as not he loses a toe or a finger, +or maybe a foot, though it's rare, so far as I'm able to reckon. You +ain't likely to get bit; a chap same as you, who's always on the hop, +gets his blood runnin' all the time. Don't you give a thought to it, +Joe." + +Having stayed in the town sufficiently long to complete their +equipment, Joe and Hank finally took the track for that part of the +country in which the Fennicks had settled. The weather was still quite +open, though cold. But the bracing air agreed wonderfully with them +both, and though there was not the smallest need for haste, they +stepped out strongly, sending the miles rapidly behind them. It was +some distance outside the town that they came upon a party of +travellers riding in, and recognized Mike, the policeman, as one of +them. + +"Hallo, Mike!" sang out Hank. "Been after more of them 'ere murderers? +How'd the case go with Hurley? This here Joe ha' been waitin' case he +should be called for evidence; but he heard a while ago as he warn't +likely to be wanted." + +The face of the huge policeman, already tanned a deep colour, went red +under his tan, while an expression of annoyance flitted across his +features. + +"We made a muss of that 'ere thing, Hank," he declared. "Joe wasn't +called for the simple reason that the folks who'd taken Hurley in +charge let him give 'em the slip. He got clear away, and I'm jest now +returning after a chase. He's gone--where, I don't know. But he's got +clear, which aer a bad nuisance. Jest you mind that you don't come up +agin him. He's not the one to forget old scores, and he'd rub it in ef +he'd the power. Wall, so long! I must get back and report; someone's +going to get trouble over this business." + +They parted where they had met, Hank and Joe pushing onward still at a +sharp pace. + +"I'm jest sorry that Hurley got clear," said Hank, after a while, as if +he had been thinking the matter out. "He's a bad man aer Hurley, and +bad men away in the wilds are apt to bring trouble to people. I've +knowed one who took up with a party of Redskins wandering in the +forests, and, gee! he didn't stop at anything. He'd made bad trouble +before the police rounded him up and shot him down. Let's hope we +shan't knock across this Hurley. Now, lad, guess we'll do another mile +or so and then fix our camp fer the night. Looks ter me as ef it might +snow, so we'll be wise to make all snug and tidy." + +They came to a halt finally beside a small wood, and, penetrating to a +part where the trees were of considerable size, deposited their +belongings on the ground. + +"Don't do to camp where it's damp, in the fust place," explained Hank. +"Where there's muskegs the trees soon rot, and ef a wind springs up you +might have the trunks coming about your ears, to say nothing of rotten +branches. This place is high and dry, and the trees, being stout and +well inside the wood, will stand up to a gale. Now fer that shack I +was talking about. Look out fer a tidy long-forked stick, and fer +other straight ones to lay across." + +Hank was evidently a past master at all that appertained to camping, +for even without Joe's aid he would soon have erected the shack. +Taking two forked sticks, he drove the straight end in each case as +deeply into the ground as he was able; a third was laid over the forks, +and then a number were allowed to lean against the one laid +horizontally. Thus a species of _tente d'abri_ was constructed, and a +roofing quickly put to it, by the simple means of slashing off spruce +twigs and branches and laying them on top. + +"That ain't always enough," explained Hank. "Ef there's a bad wind, it +would blow all them branches away. But it don't take long to cut turfs +or to peg the branches down, whichever you've a fancy for. Seein' as +the ground in here ain't over-hard, we'll take turfs; the wind won't +hurt 'em, and ef it turns to rain instead o' snow, why, not a drop'll +fall through. Now fer a bed--one between us, mate, for we'll be +companions in every way. A pile of these spruce twigs will suit us +well; then we'll light the fire and get the kettle going. A pot of tea +with a morsel to bite won't come amiss after our march. How do yer +think you'll like prospecting?" + +Joe did not think; he was emphatic about the matter, for the farther +they went the better he enjoyed the trip. He busied himself now with +the fire, for, during the chase of Hurley, George Bailey had taught him +much that concerned the culinary portion of a camp. Then he produced a +small loin of pork, and, cutting portions from it, soon had them +sizzling over the flames. + +"My, what with the smell of these here spruce boughs and that 'ere +pork, it makes a hunter's mouth jest water!" declared Hank, sitting +down to watch Joe, and smoking the pipe which he loved so much. "See +here, youngster, while you're gettin' supper ready I'll collect a few +more logs. There's never any sayin' what sort of weather we may have, +and ef we was short of firin' we'd have to eat cold grub, which ain't +over fanciful, I kin tell you." + +By the time he was back in the camp Joe had a number of pieces of pork +cooked, and was fain to admit himself that the smell of cooking them +was most appetizing. Then, as the shades of night drew in, he and +Hank--as strangely an assorted couple as one could well come upon--sat +down in the entrance of their humble shack and, wrapping blankets about +their shoulders, ate their supper, enjoying every mouthful of it as +others cannot do, even your gourmet set before the most recherché meal +that was ever invented; for an active open-air life gives zest to +everything. Your traveller does not complain of the toughness of his +steak or of the weakness of his tea. He is thankful for all that is +set before him, and with appetite sharpened by exercise, and tastes +unspoiled and unpampered by a multiplicity of viands and etceteras, +eats heartily, thankful that there is food to be had, mindful perhaps +of other times when he went hungry. + +"Wind's turned," stated Hank, as he rose after supper. "It's got away +round, and we're in for a north-easter. That mostly brings snow, so I +shouldn't wonder ef we was buried nigh the mornin'. That means +snowshoes, and it aer a lucky thing that I brought all the fixings. +There's many as buys their snowshoes. I ain't one of them. Ever sense +I was as high as a table I've made 'em myself. Throw on another log, +Joe, and let's get snug down inside. And jest for a moment have a look +at our shack. You can see that I've faced it so that the opening looks +west and south. Ef there's snow from the north-east it won't enter so +easy, though, in course, there'll be eddies in here amongst the trees, +and some of it'll be blowed in." + +Tossing branches on the fire, Joe soon joined his comrade, when the two +wrapped their blankets round them and were quickly asleep; but at +midnight they were awakened by noise without, and crept to the exit of +their shack. + +"Blowin' moderate," said Hank, "and my, ain't it snowin'! Lucky +there's a moon. It makes it look as ef the weather wouldn't be +outrageous." + +Joe was enchanted when he looked out into the forest. It was his first +real taste of a Canadian winter; for here, besides the cold blast which +whistled amongst the trees, there was snow. Flakes eddied and twirled +everywhere. They came sidling down upon the shack as if afraid to +disturb the campers. They had already formed a white carpet over the +ground, while many a branch was groaning beneath the added weight. +Under the rays of a pale, wintry moon the scene was simply enchanting. + +"Beautiful!" declared our hero. "And just fancy being in camp at such +a time! It would make them all sit up and have fits away back in Old +England." + +"It'd make men of some of them that needs changin'," grunted Hank. +"You jest wait a tidy bit. This ain't nothing to what we'll get before +we've done with the winter. But let's creep back agin'. It ain't too +warm outside, and reckon the inside of that 'ere shack aer as +comfortable as a feather bed under the roof of a palace." + +It was, in fact. Joe's head hardly touched the heaped pillow of twigs +when he fell asleep, and slumbered on, oblivious of the increasing +sounds without and of the silent snowflakes settling overhead. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Canadian Winter + +"It aer jest blowin' an almighty gale, and there ain't nothing to do +but feed and make our snowshoes," said Hank, when early on the +following morning he and Joe looked out of the shack. "It aer a lucky +thing fer us that we brought a tidy-sized piece of pork along with us, +'cos this gale might last fer days. Not as I think it will, but it +might; and ef we hadn't had plenty of grub, gee! it would ha' been a +bad case." + +Such a prospect met Joe's gaze when he stood to his full height and, +having helped to throw the snow away from the entrance of the shack, +peered over the white edge before him! The trees on either hand were +heavily laden with snow. Branches here and there had crashed to the +ground and lay in an unrecognizable heap, save for a twig here or a +stronger bough there thrusting a way upward into the light; for all +around everything was covered, smoothly clad in an all-pervading +vestment of white. Gorgeous blue shadows lurked here and there, the +faintness of the colouring adding to its beauty. Long icicles, beside +which those to be seen in England were but babies, hung from branches +already overweighted, one, a ponderous fellow, drooping to within a few +feet of the shack; for the heat of the fire had melted the snow as it +fell upon a branch above, and had produced this monster with the help +of the frost. + +"You kin get in at breakfast," said Hank, looking about him with the +manner of a man who saw nothing extraordinary about the transformation +which had arrived since the day before. "The fire's been out this two +hours, so you'd best start another." + +Joe showed his want of experience at once, for he began to rake away +the snow, so as to get down to the ashes of the fire he had built on +the evening of their arrival. But Hank stopped him with a merry guffaw. + +"That ain't the way," he said. "You start buildin' yer fire right here +on top of the snow. It'll eat its way down. Yer see, ef you was to +begin right down in a hole, there wouldn't be any sorter draught, and +how's flames to get in at the damp wood ef you don't have draught to +help 'em? But once they get movin', and things is hot, why, in course +the fire burns its way slowly downward to the ground level, when there +ain't sich draught required." + +It was one of the sort of things Joe and many another new to this +country, and to such quaint surroundings, would never have thought of, +though he was quick to see the reason in Hank's explanation. He +arranged his logs, therefore, on the top of the snow, and then removed +them once more. + +"Wall?" asked Hank, who seemed always to have one eye for our hero, +whatever he happened to be doing himself. "What are the game now?" + +"Too much draught, that's all," grinned Joe, blowing on his fingers, +for an icy wind whirled the flakes about him. "Too much of it, Hank. +Blow the fire out or set our shack alight. Fine that'd be--eh?" + +The little hunter grinned widely and nodded vigorously. "Good fer +you," he shouted. "I've knowd chaps as would ha' taken a month o' +Sundays ter spot that. There's some as is jest almighty windbags, and +go about talkin' so much that they can't think, let alone allow others +that has a mind to. There's something in bein' silent at times, Joe. +A man ain't a fool 'cos he stays quiet takin' in things as they happen." + +He sniffed the air as Joe's pork steaks began to frizzle, and looked up +from the work he was engaged on when the kettle began to send out a +merry tune, heard in spite of the howling wind. Steam whistled from +the spout, and was the signal for Hank to step across to the canteen +and extract the tea leaves which were to form their staple beverage +during the trip. + +"Tea aer comfortin'," he had said many a time, "and tea aer sustainin'. +There ain't a one as I knows of that don't drink tea and feel better +fer it. In course there's a few as is ill and find it hurts 'em, but, +gee! you get to thinkin' of all the old ladies who swears by a cup! As +fer hunters and prospectors and sich-like, tea don't hurt none of 'em. +Summertime, when it's cold, it quenches thirst better nor anything I've +met. And winter, when it's that cold you can't feel yer hands, why, a +tin dish of the stuff warms yer right down into yer boots and sets toes +and fingers tingling. Pitch in the dose, lad. I'm that set this +mornin', seems to me I could eat all you've cooked single-handed, and a +tidy slice more in addition." + +It was all good-humoured fun, and Joe found that Hank was a splendid +travelling companion; for he had proved time and again now that he had +a means to get over more than ordinary difficulties, and that whatever +the times, pleasant or foul, he was genial and bright, always looking +on the right side of misfortunes. + +"Now, jest as soon as you've cleaned up these here things, we'll finish +off the shoes and try 'em," said Hank, when they had eaten their fill. +"I brought along these two sets of frames from home, they being the +ones I made this four year back. The strip to go across 'em war to be +had back there in the settlement, and all we've got to do is to bind it +on. Ever been across snow afore, lad?" + +Joe had to acknowledge that he had not. As he melted snow in his +kettle and washed the few tin utensils they carried with the resulting +water, he watched the busy fingers of the hunter threading raw hide +strips through holes bored in the tough, bending wood which formed the +frames of the snowshoes. Then he was shown how to lash them to his +feet, while a little later he essayed to test them, and, clambering out +of the hollow which they now occupied, joined Hank on the snow. But +Joe did not remain long there; a projecting bough brought his attempt +to a sudden ending. One shoe caught badly, and before our hero knew +precisely what was happening or where he was going, he took a header +into the soft snow, till Hank could merely see a pair of shoes waving +wildly above it. + +"You jest try agin, and take care of snags comin' up from below," he +cautioned our hero. "This here snowshoein' ain't really difficult. A +fellow soon gets the knack or hang of it, and then he can go across +frozen and snowed-under country quicker'n he could walk ef the ground +was hard and he jest in boots. You stick to it, mate; nothing was ever +larned but what caused trouble." + +Joe did stick to it, in spite of the wind howling about him, and though +he took many a tumble, there was nothing in that soft, unfrozen snow to +do him injury; and in course of time he became more handy. + +"You ain't done badly fer one lesson," said Hank encouragingly. "Best +give in for a time now and go inside the shack. It aer snowin' a +trifle harder, and sense it's gettin' dark too, it seems to me as ef +the wust war before us. We'll smoke and sleep; a long rest won't harm +either of us. 'Sides, there's heaps we could do. Now, see here, Joe. +I don't rightly know much about England, nor more'n a little bit about +Europe. Jest you get in at the job and tell me about it all. When +you're tired I'll yarn to you all about the other provinces in Canada, +for I've been in most of 'em. It might turn out handy for you, for one +of these days you may be going west. They say out here that a settler +in Manitoba or Ontario stays jest so long as is wanted to make enough +dollars, then he streaks off west and takes to fruit farming, or +settles nigh to Vancouver. In course he goes so as to have more folks +about him, and also because the winter is a good deal less severe. Fer +me, give me this sort of thing; I ain't afraid of winter." + +Hank was a cheery individual to have to deal with and Joe found him, as +one might have expected, a most attentive and intelligent listener. It +was well, too, that they got on so easily together, for the gale lasted +some twenty-four hours longer, though snow ceased to fall long before +the wind had subsided. This change was followed by a sudden rise in +temperature and then by a fierce frost. + +"Couldn't have been better fer us," declared Hank. "That 'ere thaw +made the snow soft and sloppy on top. Now it's all ice, and it aer +likely we shall be able in parts to walk without snowshoes. In any +case, the shoes will hold us up over the deepest drifts, seein' that +there's now a firm skin all over. Guess we'll move come mornin'." + +Busy always, for he could not sit down, in spite of his own statements +to the contrary, and remain idle, Hank that evening, with the aid of a +torch of the yellow birch bark, instructed Joe how to fashion +moccasins, the soft leather socks and boots combined, with which all +trappers and hunters are shod. Using some of the same hide which he +had employed for the snowshoes, he laid out a pattern in a few moments, +and then, with the small blade of a knife to bore the holes, and a thin +lace of the same material, laced the sides of the sock together. + +"In course, like that it ain't waterproof," he said, "and though +trappers ain't so very careful, yet ef you've to march miles in +moccasins, and has to sleep in 'em during the night, you might jest as +well have comfort and dry feet. We'll march along in these to-morrow. +It'll be easier than using snowshoes, for the surface is nice and hard. +Soon as we kill a beast or two we'll make ourselves an extra pair, so +as to have a change." + +A brilliant wintry sun flooded the landscape as the two emerged from +the forest on the following morning, and Joe got some idea of Canada's +appearance once winter has set in. Everywhere a mantle of snow covered +the ground, while trees, bushes, and rocks were clad in a thin coating +of ice following the thaw. As for the surface of the snow, it was +harder than that so much in request for skiing in Switzerland. The +sharp thaw had liquefied the surface for a depth of perhaps half an +inch, and this was now frozen hard. + +"Likely as not there'll come another thaw," said Hank, "and in a jiffy +almost all this snow'll go, and the country be jest as it war before. +But that won't last long. Now that November's set in, we soon gets +winter fer good, and then it ain't till late March that there's a sign +of its ending. Sometimes it's later; sometimes earlier. But once the +snow's down, we gets bright days same as this often enough, and though +the thermometer may show thirty and forty degrees below zero, one don't +seem to feel it. Now, lad, put yer best foot forward; we ain't goin' +to fetch up at Fennick's to-night. This here snow'll delay us; but +ter-morrer, somewheres about noon." + +With their packs slung over their backs, and each one using a strong +stick, the two went away on their journey, sometimes travelling over a +smooth expanse which must have been the surface of some frozen lake, of +which there are many in that part of Canada, and at other times +plunging into forests. The backwoods, in fact, extended as far as the +eye could reach, with open spaces here and there. Joe enjoyed the +journey amazingly. Think of the delights of such a new experience. +Well clad, and in suitable clothing, he was as warm as a toast, while +the unwonted exercise and the crispness of the frosty air made him step +out as he had never done before. Hank even was hard put to to keep up +with his young comrade. + +"Blest ef you won't tire me one of these fine days," he cried, calling +for a halt. "It's them long legs of yourn; they takes you along over +the snow quicker'n mine. Do yer feel lonely, lad?" + +Joe shook his head with marked emphasis. "Not a bit," he said, "though +if I were by myself I might very well do so. But there's something new +to look at all the while, and the sun is so jolly. Still, I can +imagine a farm hand, stuck away in some place right away from the +villages or townships, eating his heart out if he had never been used +to the wilds." + +"Jest so; and that's why it is that bad tales of Canadian winters gets +out of the Dominion and reaches the ears of those thinkin' of +emigrating. It stands to reason that ef you take a young fellow that's +lived in a thickly-populated town all his life and plank him away right +in the wilds, he aer likely to feel lonesome come the winter, specially +ef he ain't got move enough on him to find a job or so to occupy his +time. He'll get thinking of the picture palaces and sichlike he might +be able to see ef he was back in a town, and he gets grumbling. Even +married folks do. I've knowed a chap go half crazy long afore the +winter was ended--but then, there you are!" + +He raised his eyes significantly, for Hank had experience of what every +old settler has seen amongst newcomers. The life in the Dominion is +new to them. The winter is cruelly hard, without a shadow of doubt; +but grumbling does not help matters. Those who are ready to grumble at +their surroundings find the winter more than trying. Those who have +their hearts in the new life, and the firm resolve to persevere and be +successful, make the most and the best of what cannot be avoided, and +in place of longing for old conditions, for the amusements of a town, +settle down to find tasks to occupy their attention. As Hank had told +Joe before, and Peter also, there was always furniture to be made for +the shack. The winter months, when the shack was as warm as possible, +was just the time when papering and whitewashing could be done. There +were, in fact, a number of jobs to keep idle hands busy, to help pass +the time, and to aid settlers to happiness. However, if the winter +were hard elsewhere, Joe found this, his first experience of it, most +exhilarating. He trudged along blithely, whistling often. It was a +couple of hours after noon, when they had eaten and were on their way +once more, that something occurred to interrupt the journey. They were +thrusting their way noiselessly through a wooded glade, when Hank +brought his companion to a stop. + +"There's been moose hereabouts," he told Joe, pointing to the snow. +"You could tell it blindfold, for though there ain't no footmarks, +there's deep holes. Yer see, a moose is that heavy and his feet so +small comparatively, that the hard crust of snow that's frozen ain't +strong enough to hold him up. He goes through deep ef he's making a +new track, while ef he and his mates has been along afore, there's a +deep hard path that there ain't no mistakin'. There's been jest one +along here; it's likely they has a yard 'way up here." + +"A yard?" asked Joe, ignorant of what that might be. "What's a yard?" + +"Jest a place to which moose flock every winter almost. In course it's +more or less open ground what's known as a 'barren', and there is +always heaps of the class of trees and moss on which they feed. They +congregates and treads the snow flat, and lives there till their food +is eaten; then off they goes to form another. Jest you slip along +easy, lad; a bull moose ain't the sorter fellow one asks to come up +aginst." + +A mile or so farther on it was evident that the moose whose tracks they +were following, and who happened to have preceded them in their own +direction, joined a well-worn track which plunged at once into forest. +It was then that Hank again came to a sudden halt. + +"Did you hear that sort of cough?" he asked. "That's a bull moose fer +sure; 'praps we'll come in fer some shootin'. Anyway, reckon we'll get +our guns unslung and ready in case." + +Slipping cartridges into the breaches of their rifles, the two +proceeded cautiously, and before many minutes had passed heard a +succession of sounds which puzzled Joe immensely. Someone might have +been thrashing the trunks of the trees with a heavy stake; at times the +sounds were almost metallic, while now and again an angry cough came to +their ears. + +"It aer a moose bull fer sure," whispered Hank. "Yer see, the wind's +fallen and there ain't a breath, else he'd have scented us long ago; +what's more, there's been something happenin' to upset his temper. +Bull moose aer the angriest, fiercest things as ever I clapped eyes on. +One moment they'll run at the very shadow of a human, and next they'll +charge with their heads up and their spreading antlers ready for the +enemy. Hark there, he's 'sounding'!" + +When our hero had the latter term explained to him, he gathered that it +meant that the moose, scenting an enemy or a rival bull moose, perhaps, +had halted and was thrashing some tree stump with his antlers, till a +succession of blows sounded through the forest, for all the world as if +lumbermen were at work with their axes. Then followed a series of +lower-toned noises. + +"He aer fairly working hisself up fer a fight," whispered Hank, +crouching behind a trunk. "That 'ere bull moose aer laying into the +trees with his fore hoofs, and lucky we are that it ain't us. Their +fore hoofs is just edged as sharp as any axe and would cut badly, while +a dig with the antlers would kill a man. You kin lay it as sartin that +there's another bull moose around. Mayhap there's been a cow moose +a-callin'. That's brought two of the others along, and now, ef I ain't +altogether mistaken, there's likely to be an almighty ruction, for it +ain't in reason fer one moose to give way to another; they're terrible +fighters. Jest about this time o' the year they're in grand condition, +and fights take place constantly. I ain't never seed one, but I've +come up to moose as was in them as was nigh killed. Come along +quietly; we may have a peep at what's happenin'." + +Creeping on through the wood, the strange sounds which they had heard +were for a time altogether absent. But it was not for long, for a dull +croaking cough suddenly reached them from an opposite direction, and +was followed instantly by loud and furious "sounding" and by a huge +clatter that told of falling branches. Ten minutes later Hank put up +his hand and slank in behind a thick mass of underwood. + +"Look away over there," he whispered hoarsely. "He aer hidin' jest in +amongst the trees, and another challenge from his rival will bring him +out. Ain't he layin' into the trunks and sichlike?" + +The noise made by the furious beast became in fact even greater, while +there was a commotion amongst the branches and withered leaves which +still clung in places. A second later there came a croaking roar from +some point to the right, the trees in that direction were thrust +asunder, while a magnificent beast pushed its way into the clearing. +Joe's eyes opened wide in amazement, for never had he beheld such a +sight. There, standing erect before him, was one of the wonders of the +Dominion; in fact, one of the deer tribe peculiar to Canada, which, +unlike ordinary deer, noted for their timidity, was obviously the +reverse. A coat of shimmering black clothed the beast, setting off a +neck and shoulders which were decidedly massive; huge palmated antlers +of enormous breadth crowned a head which was large, like other portions +of this animal, and extremely fierce in aspect. Grand upper limbs +supported on slender lower ones, both streaked with orange lines, were +finished off by shapely hoofs, which, as Hank had said, could be +extremely dangerous. The animal made a truly magnificent spectacle, +and Joe could have continued gazing at him for a considerable time. +However, there was more to come yet, for of a sudden the leaves away to +the right parted, and a second moose bull, bigger if anything than he +who had already appeared, came striding into the arena. + +"It'll be a fight that'll be worth watchin'," whispered Hank, his face +set with excitement, his eyes blazing. "See 'em charge." + +It took perhaps less than a minute for the two rivals to take stock of +one another. A glance at either showed that their courage was raised +to the highest and their tempers ferocious. Then they charged +furiously, their heads down and their formidable antlers to the front. +The shock of their meeting could have been heard a mile away, while Joe +could easily hear their loud hissing breathing. Rising very cautiously +so as to obtain a better view, he looked on spellbound while the two +massive beasts fought for the victory, sometimes with their antlers +locked, and then, separating for a little space, only to dash forward +once more and come into contact with a crash which vibrated through the +forest. It was at one of the moments when they withdrew from one +another, as if to gather strength for another charge, that the brute +Joe and Hank had first come upon suddenly threw up his head and gazed +in their direction, causing both of them to crouch lower; then there +came a bellowing roar and a commotion there could be no +misunderstanding. + +"He's scented us and is charging," cried Hank, leaping to his feet. +"There ain't nothing for it but a tree. Quick, Joe; climb into one!" + +So sudden had been the change, that our hero was altogether taken aback +and, as it were, robbed of his energies. He could be quick enough at +other times, but now, when there was urgent need for haste, his feet +seemed too heavy, while as yet he had hardly taken in the danger of the +situation. It was when he saw Hank's active figure already shinning up +a tree that Joe awakened to his own position. By then the moose was +within some ten yards of him, its head down, coughing and bellowing +angrily. + +"Dodge him! Dodge him!" shouted Hank, now astride a branch and looking +as if he were about to leap down to aid his comrade. "Don't try to +climb, or he'll cut you to pieces with his hoofs. Dodge him, lad!" + +Joe heeded the warning, and, darting to one side, took cover behind a +slender oak which happened to be there. But if he thought it would +protect him he was much mistaken, for the moose charged madly, and, +striking the tree with head and antlers, broke it off short at the +bottom, sending the other portion and our hero flying together. In +fact, the whole thing was a huge surprise, and might well have been +expected to rob Joe of his wits altogether. But a sharp pang in his +shoulder as the trunk struck him heavily seemed to sharpen his +energies, and, leaping to his feet, he raced at once to another tree +and sheltered behind it. Then began a chase that was anything but +amusing, for the moose bull struck repeatedly at him, making the tree +shake, and sending the sound of his blows echoing and reverberating +through the forest. He rose on his hind legs and slashed fiercely with +his fore legs, ripping long strips of bark away. It looked, in fact, +as if any one of his rushes might take Joe unawares, and that his +dodging behind the tree might come to a sudden ending. As for Hank, he +was entirely helpless, for it was this selfsame tree in which he had +taken refuge, while his own and our hero's rifles lay behind the thick +underwood where they had been hiding. However, the little man was not +the one to give in without a struggle, more particularly when Joe's +life might depend upon his efforts, and presently a brilliant thought +came to his aid. + +[Illustration: THE MOOSE CHARGED MADLY] + +"Jest keep dodging him," he sang out encouragingly. "Ef he ain't +reached you yet he ain't likely to. Jest keep well clear of his hoofs +and out of sight of the brute as much as you can. He ain't as fresh as +he war, and that'll help us." + +The cunning hunter rapidly unwound the long piece of raw hide that he +had cut for use on the snowshoes, and which, having more than he +required, he had carried with him since, in case of renewals being +wanted. Perhaps he had as much as eight feet, perhaps there was less; +but, in any case, it was as tough and strong as any rope ever +constructed. While Joe continued to dodge the angry moose, now +escaping his attacks with comparative ease--for he had regained his +coolness--Hank made one end of his rope fast to the tree, looped the +other, and then crawled out on the branch. + +"Jest get him to come dodging round this way," he said hoarsely. "Ef I +hooks him, you make a run fer one of the guns, and then climb into the +nearest tree. This rope won't hold him overlong, but it'll do to let +you get clear. Now, I'm ready." + +Joe merely required to show himself plainly for the maddened moose to +come dodging after him. The huge antlers, as hard almost as steel, +struck the tree a resounding clang, then the fore feet were used till +strips of bark were flying. Slowly Joe edged round the trunk, luring +the animal after him, till a lucky move brought the moose directly +under Hank. + +"Git ready!" he shouted, at the same time dropping one foot and kicking +the antlers. Instantly the beast raised his head, and like lightning +Hank slipped his noose over one of the broad branches. + +"Run!" he bellowed. "Don't ferget the gun, or we'll be both of us +fixed for days together." + +It may be imagined that Joe did run. He dashed across the open space +to the spot where their rifles were lying, turning his head to see what +was happening. If he had felt less confidence in the little hunter, +there is small doubt that he would have neglected to pick up a weapon; +for the fury of the moose on seeing his movement was terrible. It +lowered its head and dashed after him, till the strong hide rope +brought it up with a jerk that threatened to snap the noose. Then +began a mad struggle on the part of the moose for freedom. Rearing up +on its hind legs, it struck out with its fore feet, almost reaching the +bough on which Hank was seated. It backed and tugged, it fell to the +ground, trusting by those means to tear itself free; then it dashed +this way and that, arrested on each occasion with a mighty jerk that +actually shook the tree. + +"Even a chain wouldn't stand much more of such tugging," shouted Hank, +watching Joe anxiously out of the corner of his eye. "You be slippy +with that gun, lad, or else we'll lose him. Ah, that's a relief! He's +into a tree. Now, wonder what sort of shooting he'll make. Say, lad," +he called out loudly, "take him when he lifts his head, and put a +bullet into his shoulder jest about where the neck joins it. Steady, +Joe; you're puffed. Pull yerself together." + +If our hero had attempted a shot then, there is little doubt but that +he would have missed entirely, for what with the active movements of +the moose and his own trembling fingers, a sure aim was more than +difficult. However, he did as he was ordered. Bracing his legs round +a branch, he brought the butt of his weapon firmly to his shoulder, +then, choosing a moment when the animal lifted its head, he sent a +bullet crashing into it. A yell from Hank told him, even before the +thin cloud of smoke had cleared away, that he had been successful. + +"Good fer you! Killed him dead!" Joe heard, and, looking down, saw the +huge bulk of the animal stretched on the snow, thick steam still +issuing from the nostrils. + +Let us be strictly truthful again with regard to our hero. Joe was +shaking in every limb as he dropped to the ground and stood over the +fallen animal; for excitement had told upon his nerves, as yet +unaccustomed to such strenuous moments. + +"You don't need to be ashamed," said Hank, seeing that Joe looked +downcast. "I've seen many an older chap all of a shiver with +excitement when the thing was over. The main thing aer that you kept +your head and held your sights straight when they was wanted. This +here exhibition will have given you a good idea of the moose that roams +about Canada, and next time you meet one don't wait too long for his +charge. I've known a man to be skewered on those antlers afore you +could shout, and killed jest as dead as possible. Reckon we'll skin +the brute and take his head. It'll be a fine gift for the Fennicks." + +They spent the remainder of the day in skinning the moose and in +removing the skull and antlers. Indeed, they camped beside the +carcass, not troubling themselves about the other brute, which had +retreated at the very beginning of their adventure. That night, for +the first time in his young life, Joe cooked moose steaks over the fire +and ate of meat of his own getting. + +"Prime, ain't it?" grinned Hank, as he devoured a savoury morsel. "But +you wait; there'll be more huntin' before we've done with this here +expedition." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A Co-operative Proposition + +It was rather later than they had anticipated when Hank and Joe arrived +at Sam Fennick's shack on the following day; for again a thaw had set +in--not the "silver thaw" so much prized in Canada, which they had +previously experienced, and which, by freezing the upper layer of snow +and, as it were, laying a sound crust upon it, had enabled them to make +good progress, but a thaw unaccompanied by change, or, to be exact, not +followed by a succeeding frost. They finished their journey, +therefore, through a snowy slush, sinking often above their knees, +while their moccasins and their feet were wringing wet and very cold. + +Shouts greeted them. + +"Why, if it ain't Joe!" came from Sam heartily, in his well-known +bellowing tones, while the ineradicable cockney accent was obviously +there; in fact, it was an accent of which Sam was proud. It was +something never likely to leave him however long he remained in Canada, +and however much he interlarded his conversation with Americanisms. +"Missus, it's Joe!" he shouted, turning his head over his shoulder. +Then he dashed forward, seized our hero's hand, and squeezed it till +the latter almost winced. + +"Howdy?" he exclaimed, swinging on Hank. "Introduce us." + +"Hank," said Joe shortly, "hunter and trapper, a friend of mine. Hank, +this is Sam Fennick; but----" + +"In course I knows Sam," cried Hank, stretching out his wiry little +paw, but one, nevertheless, which could give a grip that would make a +strong man squirm. After all, outside the polite society of London and +other large cities, where very vigorous handshaking is not looked on +with favour, men often enough, the rough men of the plain, the prairie, +the backwoods farm, and of the forest, exchange greetings with an +earnestness there is no denying. Such men do not simper and dangle +nerveless fingers before a stranger. They stand facing squarely, +looking closely into the other's eyes, and when their hands meet, and +their fingers grip the other's, the firmness of the grip, its vigour, +its unflinching support of the return pressure somehow conveys +something of the character of one man to the other. Hank had treated +Joe in that way. To a man such as Hurley, whom he did not like, whom +he suspected to be a craven, Hank merely waved or nodded; for he had +his own views of what was proper, and they were far more exact and far +more straightforward than one would have imagined. + +"What! You, Hank--me old pal!" shouted Sam, delighted beyond measure, +and almost hugging the little hunter. "You along o' Joe? How's that? +He been doing something fer you, same as he did fer us?" + +Hank asked an abrupt question. "What?" + +"Ain't he never let on about the fire aboard ship, the rumpus there +was, and how he led the volunteers?" + +"Nary a word. Peter--Peter Strike, that is--did tell me a tale, but he +warn't too sure of it. The young cuss is that silent when it comes to +hisself. But he's been doing well. Sam, let's get these wet things +off us, and something hot inside, and then we'll gas. Gee! Ef that +ain't Mrs. Fennick! Howdy, maam? Here's Joe." + +The good woman almost embraced our hero, for she felt like a mother to +him. + +"Come right in and let us hear all about you and your doings," she +cried. "And Hank Mitchell too! I'm that glad to see you both, and Sam +has been waitin' these many days for you to arrive. He's got a scheme +for the winter." + +The grinning master of the shack accompanied the visitors into the +interior of the shack, and there stood, first on one leg and then on +the other, while Joe and Hank looked keenly about them. It was to be +expected that a man of Sam's energy, a Canadian settler who liked +things to be right, should have erected a dwelling which should be +fitting for his wife. Besides, there was reason for even greater +magnificence. + +"Guess you've been hard at work," said Hank, looking about him with +twinkling eyes that nothing escaped. "This here shack's meant to last." + +"It's that and more," cried Mrs. Fennick, pride in her tones. "Sam has +built for a purpose. This shack's too big for what we want; he planned +to have an office." + +"Eh?" asked Hank, turning on the grinning owner, who had flushed to the +roots of his hair for all the world as if he were a schoolboy. "What's +this?" + +"Part of the scheme, lad," came the answer. "Jest you two get seated +and pull off those wet moccasins; then, when you've got dry socks to +your feet and has had a bite, I'll get to at it. It's a fine yarn; +I've dreamed of it this past five years." + +No amount of persuasion would drag from Sam what his scheme was till +Joe and Hank had eaten, and the latter had lit up a pipe. + +"You kin fire in at it, Sam," said Hank at length, in the crisp little +manner which was so distinctly his own. "I kinder gathered from this +here Joe that when you came along up here prospecting it warn't with +the idea of the ordinary farm. Maam, it's plain to see as my old +friend has nigh worked his fingers to the bone." + +Once more the little hunter's eyes went round the large parlour in +which he and the others were seated, while Mrs. Fennick and her husband +followed his glances with frank pride staring from their own eyes. Nor +could Joe help but admire all that he saw; for he and Sam had been +parted but a matter of a few months, and in the course of that time the +latter had pitched upon a suitable holding for his farm, and had cut +the timber for his shack, besides erecting the house. As to the +latter, it was far bigger than the ordinary shack erected by the +settler. There was a parlour, a kitchen, and three bedrooms, while +attached at one side was a large office. + +"Where we'll have the telephone afore you kin look round," declared +Sam. "It's jest like this. Me and a mate or two agreed to go along +together into New Ontario and pitch upon a spot that was likely to open +up. Wall, we took the line the branch railway was following, though +there's not one save those in the know behind the scenes, who kin say +exactly where it'll run. Still, me and the others prospected a heap +till we came along here. What with the difficulties of rocks to the +south, and big, straggling elevations, it was clear as the rails must +follow the valley, and there warn't more'n one for 'em to take. So we +prospected along it till we came here. You jist come outside the door +and you'll see what I'm after." + +He led the way to the door of the shack and pointed to the north across +a narrow stretch of country bounded on either hand by elevated land, +and seamed along a straggling line running a little to one side of its +centre by a thin strip of blue which, here and there, was entirely +covered with snow. As for the landscape itself, it was difficult to +tell its aspect exactly, in spite of the thaw, for snow lay deeply in +most parts. + +"Wall?" asked Hank curtly, looking about him and taking in every +feature. "It's the top end of the valley, I kin see that. Rails +running north kin easily pass out, seeing that the two ridges on either +side don't run together. But they can't cut off to right or left. Ef +the rails comes along this way, why, in course they passes right +through this location." + +"Along by the river," said Sam quickly. "Hank, it's an easy rise all +the way. The river ain't got no current to speak of, which tells the +tale easily. As to the rails coming along into the valley down south, +why, that is almost certain, as sure as one can take it. Anyway, me +and my mates agreed that it was more than likely, and so we arranged to +take up holdings here. There's four of us already, Claude and Jim and +Joe makes seven, and come spring-time there's nigh twenty more married +men to join us." + +"Wall?" asked Hank, not as yet clear as to what was Sam's meaning. +"Where's the difference between this and other settlements? You takes +up land, and the rails come along. Good! Up goes the value of the +land, as it aer sartin to do. You get a reward for foresight; after +that, where's the difference?" + +Sam had evidently sought for the question, for he rubbed his hands +together eagerly and gripped Hank's sleeve. + +"Jest here," he declared with enthusiasm. "Instead of some twenty of +us starting to work our sections separately, and going mighty slow in +consequence, we're forming a corporation. Each man who takes land will +pool money with the corporation. With that money we buy implements, +horses, cattle, everything that's needed. We divide our numbers into +parties, and come the spring one of 'em sets to work to build the +shacks, another does the ploughing, while a third'll get to at the +irrigation channels." + +"Ah!" gasped Hank. "This aer new." + +"Sam worked the scheme out all alone," declared Mrs. Fennick, with +energy, causing her lord and master to blush again. + +"It sounds just splendid," cried Hank. "Wall? What more? I kin see +that there's an advantage in working ground on the corporation system. +If you've got the timber cut already, it stands to reason that ten men +working on a shack can put it up more'n ten times quicker than one man +all alone. If there's twenty shacks wanted, ten men can put 'em up +heaps faster than twenty fellers working on their own. And irrigation +too! That sounds fine; it's doing well elsewhere." + +Hank spoke but the truth there. A far-seeing Dominion Government and +an all-powerful railway company have already seamed portions of Canada +with canals and ditches with which water is borne to lands hitherto +useless. Their forethought has converted, and is fast converting, +barren soil into country which in parts already bears smiling crops and +happy homesteads. As for the corporate system, if the Dominion +Government has not attempted that--and one must admit that it is a +question more for individual settlers--it has at least other worthy +schemes. A would-be settler can now sail for the Dominion, to find +there a quarter section prepared for his coming, with the shack built, +the well dug, and some forty acres broken and seeded. For this he pays +a reasonably small sum down, and the rest by small instalments. Think +of the huge advantage of such a system. In place of finding naked +soil, and having first to build a shelter and then break the land, a +settler finds a home in readiness and crops already sprouting. Then +consider Sam Fennick's proposition. + +"It aer bound to go with a bang," declared Hank, pushing his skin cap +to the back of his head and scratching his forehead. "It aer jest +tremendous." + +"It'll work, I think," agreed Sam, with the natural modesty of the +inventor of such a daring scheme. "Anyway, we've got the party +together, and there'll be money in abundance. Each man will own his +own taking, and ef others come along and settle nigh us, why, we're +prepared to hire ourselves out ef there's a call and we've the time. +As for implements, me and a few of them has talked it over, and come +the spring there'll be two steam agricultural motors up here, in which +we kin burn wood. They'll each do ploughing at three to four acres a +day, and will draw the reapers and binders when it comes to harvesting. +There won't be no need to wait for a threshing gang, 'cos the tractors +will drive the machine we shall buy. They kin do wood sawing too, and +a hundred other things, besides hauling the stuff to market." + +"Ah!" gasped Hank, for this was a proposition which rather took his +breath away by its novelty and its possibilities. "But----" + +"Yes?" asked Sam, bracing himself, as if to face any awkward questions +the little hunter might fire off at him. + +"There's the winter," said Hank. "Your corporation comes to an end +when the snow comes; you ain't thought of that." + +But Sam had; he wagged a knowing finger, while Mrs. Fennick giggled. +Indeed, it must be admitted that this cockney settler, who had come +from London and done so well in the Dominion, had proved himself more +than astute. Perhaps he had thought the whole matter out during some +past winter in Canada. In any case, he had been wonderfully close +where his scheme was concerned, for never once had he more than hinted +at it to Joe. However, the question of work in the winter had not +escaped him. + +"You listen here," he said, shaking Hank as if he were a dog. "Come +wintertime east of the rockies things mostly closes down in Canada; +even in the towns there ain't too much work. There's men wandering to +and fro searching for jobs, whereas, most times and in most places, +when there's spring and summer, there's more jobs than men." + +"Guess that aer so," agreed Hank, sucking hard at his pipe. + +"But there's work in Canada that starts in the fall, and only then--eh?" + +"Lumberin'," suggested Hank. + +"Lumbering it aer," cried Sam, drawling the words. "Up there beyond +the break through which the railway'll pass, ef we've any luck, there's +land that's heavily timbered. Wall, it's part of the scheme. You kin +get a timber concession from Government by paying so much on the logs +you cut, and me and my mates has taken up a tidy piece of timber +country. There's a lake twenty miles and more north into which we can +slide the logs, and there's another jest at the head of the valley. +Way south there's a quickish fall, with water in plenty, and ef all +goes well, and we kin make enough dollars, why, we'll start a mill +there and saw our timber. The rails'll be close by then, and will take +'em on to market." + +"My," cried Hank, "you've been moving!" + +"We're only beginning," said Sam. "But we starts out for a lumber camp +soon as the frost comes, and there we'll work till springtime. You +axed what we was going to do in the winter. There's the answer." + +It must be confessed that Sam Fennick's scheme was ambitious to the +last degree. But then, if one analyses it, one can see the +possibilities that Hank saw, for co-operative working is often enough +wonderfully successful where the single individual fails. Again, in a +country where labour is scarce, and profits often lessened because of +the lack of labour at critical periods; where, in fact, a man who may +have broken and sown his land with the greatest industry may see his +crops rot in spite of his energy, simply and solely because of the lack +of help to harvest them; there, in a case such as that, the +co-operation of his fellows would be all in all to him. Indeed, with +pooled labour, and a certain sum pooled by all the settlers with which +to buy implements, it stands to reason that work could be done more +cheaply, more expeditiously, and always at the proper season. + +"It aer a grand proposition," declared Hank, when he had thoroughly +considered the matter. "I kin see a big saving in more than one way, +and one of 'em's this. Suppose there's twenty settlers in the combine. +Wall, now, with ten ploughs and ten harrows and seeders you've tools to +break the land. Supposing there warn't a combine; each man has his own +tools. They ain't all in use together, so some of 'em's lying idle. +That's gain number one, and don't you try to contradict me. And so +you're goin' lumberin'?" + +"We are that," assented Sam; "and seems to me you and Joe had better +come along with us. You could put in a month or more, and then go +along on prospecting." + +It took our hero and his hunter companion but a little while to accept +the invitation, the more so as Joe was already more or less one of the +corporation Sam was forming. + +"There's dollars in the scheme right through," Hank said, as they sat +round the stove that evening. "Ef you'll have me as one of the band, +I'll apply for my two hundred acres right off, paying for 'em, for I +ain't able to take up more free land. Joe's in the same fix. But he +aer got the dollars to pay. We'll come north with you and do a little +lumbering. Afterwards he and I kin move on farther, for I've a +proposition of my own to look into." + +"But----" began Joe, who had been a listener for the most part up till +now. + +"Huh! He's agoin' to criticize the scheme and pour cold water on it," +grinned Hank, swinging round on our hero. "Tell you, Sam, this here +youngster aer had his eyes opened wide sense he came out, and he's +turnin' into a business farmer. Wall, what are it?" + +"This lumbering," began Joe diffidently, colouring at so much attention +being attracted to him. + +"Just you give 'em what you think and don't be afraid," cried Mrs. +Fennick encouragingly. "The lad that could organize volunteers aboard +ship has a right to speak. Sam, likely as not he'll show you and Hank +that you've made a big error somewheres. Now, Joe." + +"I was merely asking about the lumbering," said Joe. "I always +gathered that lumberers were men who were more or less trained. They +go out in gangs, don't they?" + +"And so'll we," interrupted Sam, with eagerness. "But there ain't so +many chaps out here that hasn't had a turn with the gangs some time. +I've done a season; p'raps Hank has too." + +"You bet," came from that individual. "I've done most things 'way out +here, from gold diggin' to farming pure and simple. Huntin' aer my +proper trade, but I ain't too proud to do anything. Even when I'm my +own master I ain't above takin' on a job for someone else ef I've the +time, and the money's good enough." + +"Then there's two of us has done the work before," declared Sam. +"Eight or nine of the boys I've fixed it with to join our corporation +are already up in the woods, where we'll join 'em. They've a shack +built this three months, and no doubt they've started in felling." + +It appeared, indeed, as if the thoughtful Sam had made very complete +arrangements, and there was little doubt but that Hank, as an old and +experienced colonial, was delighted. + +"It aer a fine proposition," he repeated for perhaps the twentieth +time. "When other folks is buried in the snow, and only finding work +with feeding the cattle and sichlike, we'll be cutting timber that'll +bring dollars in the summer, and be back on our holdings time enough to +plough and sow and make ready for harvest. Autumn will see us +threshing, and by the time the grain is hauled down to the railway +there'll be frosts. Then out we go again. Gee, Sam, this fair tickles +me!" + +A week later the little band of lumbermen was collected together, while +Tom Egan, a sturdy settler some fifty years of age, had arrived from +his own little shack across the valley and had taken up his residence +at Sam's dwelling, where it was arranged that Mrs. Fennick should stay +with Egan's wife and children. + +"Yer see," explained Sam, "a lumber camp ain't no sorter place for a +woman. It's rough living all the while. Men are packed together as +close as sardines, and even then it's mighty cold. So the missus stays +here with the Egans while we move on." + +They slung their traps over their shoulders, and with snowshoes on +their feet set out towards the north. The thaw of the past week had by +now given way to severe frosts, while there had been a heavy fall of +snow. However, none but a confirmed grumbler could have found fault +with the conditions, for a bright sun flooded the landscape, shimmering +on hillocks of snow, throwing long blue shadows athwart the hollows, +and causing the millions of particles of ice to flash and scintillate. +There was a dry, exhilarating crispness about the atmosphere that was +typically Canadian, a bracing coldness that made the little band step +out briskly, Hank at their head, Sam following; then Joe, and Jim and +Claude, the two young friends he had made aboard the steamer, marching +side by side. Dick Parsons, a lanky, bearded colonial, brought up the +rear, a veritable grenadier in proportions. + +They formed a merry party in their lean-to that night, and went on +their journey on the following morning with undiminished vigour. Late +the following day the crisp ring of axes coming to their ears through +the tree trunks of the forest they had plunged into some hours before +told them that the lumber camp was within easy distance. Shouts +greeted them as they trailed into a narrow clearing, at the back of +which stood a low-built shack half-buried in snow, and with its roof +supporting a vast mass of that material. Smoke issued gently from a +centrally-placed chimney, while the door was wide open. Hearty indeed +was the greeting, then the hut swallowed the whole party. + +"You've jest come along in time for tea," cried one of the lumbermen, a +bearded giant even taller than Parsons. "Sit ye down right there and +we'll give you a meal that'll show you how we've been living. Bill, +you fish out that bear's meat you've a-stewing, while we others get the +tea on the table." + +The table, let us explain, was a mere apology for that article as +civilized individuals understand the term, for your lumberman has no +time to devote to the niceties of furniture construction. Joe indeed +found himself marvelling at the crudeness of their work and yet at its +obvious utility; for split stakes had been driven into the ground down +the centre of the shack, and cross pieces nailed on top. More long +split logs secured to these formed the top of a table some two feet +wide. As for benches, they were fashioned in the same manner along +either side, and were by now fully occupied. A huge enamelled-ware +teapot was passing from hand to hand, while Bill, the cook to this +expedition, was standing at one end of the table dealing out helpings +of a savoury bear-meat stew that tickled the nostrils of everyone. + +"What about sleeping?" asked Joe presently, when the meal was finished +and the lumber gang had gathered round the open fire placed at one end +of the table. "Is there another room?" + +"Another!" exclaimed Harvey Bent, the chief of the party. "Young man, +there ain't time fer buildin' luxuries when you're lumberin', and +what's more, guess there ain't warmth enough. Time we turns in +to-night there'll be jest about room fer the lot of us, and no more. +The closer we are the warmer, and 'way out here, when the thermometer's +down below zero, that means something to men who has to work." + +Joe and his friends found that the sleeping accommodation was quaint in +the extreme. Along one side of the shack a sloping platform had been +built of the usual split logs, and piles of blankets lay upon it. +Going to bed was a simple proceeding in this lumber camp; for men +merely slipped off their boots and hats and wrapped themselves in a +blanket. Then they lay down side by side, packed closely together, so +closely, in fact, that to turn was an impossibility. But Joe and his +young friends, who were novices like himself, discovered very soon that +these old lumbermen were not without consideration. They allowed for +the possibility of a change of position, and that very night, some time +in the small hours, a hoarse command awakened them. + +"Heave!" they heard, and promptly, more asleep than awake, the band of +men rolled over on to the other side and once more settled into snores +and slumber. + +"It's a sight that'll do your eyes good," declared Hank, early on the +following morning, when the gang had eaten. "You watch these fellers +cutting down their timber. It ain't likely that you'll be wanted fer +much to-day, and so we'll take a look at 'em and then see their mates. +All of the gang ain't fellers. It stands to reason that someone's got +to deal with the timber when it's down, and has to haul it out of the +way to where the water kin deal with it. We're high up here, for we +was climbing most of yesterday, and this here shack aer located jest at +the top of a steep slope cutting sheer down to the lake that Sam +mentioned. You come along with me; when we've had a look round we kin +tackle a job with the others." + +Donning their snowshoes and taking their rifles with them--for it was +already agreed that Hank should hunt for the gang and procure them +fresh meat--he and Joe went sliding off along the hillside, and +presently, reaching a spot where the lumberman's axe had cleared the +trees, were able to get a clear view of their surroundings. Down below +them, two or more hundred feet perhaps, was a vast expanse of white, +unbroken for the most part, though here and there there was a +dark-coloured elevation denoting an island, the huge expanse being the +frozen and snow-covered surface of the lake. Beyond there was forest, +patched with snow, silent and forbidding. As for the steep slope at +that part, it was scored with a hundred and more tracks. + +"Where the logs slide down to the lake," said Hank. "Now we'll go +along and see 'em at it. My, these trees are mighty big, and will saw +into fine logs! Ef that railway comes up this way, as Sam believes, +timber'll be wanted, and the work that's being done here will bring its +own reward. Ah! there's axes! Jest you come and see how a Canadian +lumberman tackles a forest giant, and can throw the tree jest wherever +he wants." + +Joe marvelled, indeed, at the skill and the energy of the lumbermen. +Hearty, healthy fellows one and all, they went at their work as if they +loved it. Cutting niches with their axes high up the stem of a giant, +they drove wooden stakes into the crevices thus prepared, and soon had +a platform built on this somewhat insecure foundation. Then came the +ring of axes swiftly falling, a hoarse cry of warning, twice repeated, +followed by a reverberating roar as the giant succumbed to human +forces, crashing to the ground with a thud which shook the +surroundings. Joe stood by as one of the biggest of the trees tumbled, +and watched the lumbermen shredding the branches from the fallen +timber. The naked trunk was then levered with crowbars, and with a +final jerk was sent skidding and sliding down the hillside, to come to +a halt at the bottom, perhaps on the frozen surface of the lake, or at +any rate within a few feet of it. + +"There's a couple of men working down there with a hoss," explained +Hank. "They hitches on to the logs that don't reach the lake and drag +'em into position. Look away down. There's a hull crowd of timber +waitin' for the end of winter." + +"And then?" asked Joe, for he was ignorant for the most part of the +work of lumbermen. + +"Why, the ice breaks up," said Hank, "the logs gets carried into the +lake, and the 'drivers' takes 'em in hand. A mighty hard and dangerous +job theirs is, too. They has to be at it night and day, wet and fine. +Each of 'em has a long pole with a spike at the end, and their +particular work aer to send the logs down. Sometimes the stream +carries 'em all right. Sometimes they gets hung up in corners and +eddies, and the driver has to set 'em afloat agin. Then, down at the +bottom of a lake same as this it ain't so seldom that logs and ice'll +form a jam. One of the logs gets across the outlet, stuck up on a rock +or two. Others piles up behind, with blocks of ice maybe, till there's +ten foot high of logs and stuff, with a mass of water and ice and logs +'way behind. That aer a ticklish job to tackle, and many a driver has +been killed or drowned. But they ain't never afraid, and there ain't +much that they can't do. I've seed 'em hopping from floating log to +log and steering a single trunk downstream, as ef they was aboard a +canoe and not on top of a thing that'd roll over with the ordinary +feller. Now, we'll make right off out of hearing of the camp. Bill +war telling me this morning that when that bear's meat aer done, there +ain't nothing left but pork." + +It was with the keenness of a schoolboy that Joe threw himself into the +work at the lumber camp. That very evening he was told off with the +hauling gang, and for a month and more assisted in dragging the felled +timber to the edge of the lake; and never once did he find the hours +drag or the work too heavy. As for the evenings, they were a delight +to all; for your lumberman's camp is a veritable club. There, with the +door shut and a hot fire burning, the men made a circle once their meal +was finished. Pipes were filled, and clouds of smoke obscured the +surroundings, dimming the rays from the single oil lantern hanging +overhead. And what yarns those colonials could tell! Rugged, honest +fellows, they spoke in a simple manly manner which was captivating. +The boaster was not to be found amongst them; their tales were of deeds +which had actually occurred, while the truth of their statements was +apparent. As for chaff, they were never done with it. Harmless jokes +and horse-play made the evenings jovial and merry. It was thus that +our hero passed a portion of his first Canadian winter, revelling in +the brisk atmosphere and in his work, boon companion to every member of +the lumber gang. Then he and Hank bade farewell to their comrades and, +shouldering their packs, set out for the north, for a country hardly +ever explored, where danger and difficulty awaited them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Moose Hunting + +"I'm agoin ter tell you now what's brought me away up here through the +backwoods of New Ontario," said Hank, the very evening he and Joe had +left the lumber camp and their friends, amongst whom Sam Fennick was +numbered. "I'm looking fer Beaver Jack." + +"Beaver Jack! Who's he?" demanded our hero doubtfully. + +"That's what I'm jest about to tell. Beaver Jack aer the cutest, +quietest, cussedest Indian that ever you set eyes on, or that ever +anyone else set eyes on either. He kin talk our language fairly well, +and he war for three years or more along with me and my father. That's +a time ago. Of late he's mooned about in the settlements during +summer, not doing more'n a hand's turn, as is the nature of the +Redskin. And winter's found him 'way up north, trappin' and huntin' +fer the pelts that keeps him in food during the summer months. Beaver +Jack and me's old friends, and with him to lead there's a chance of our +striking a country I've heard of from mates of his. There ain't been +much prospecting up in New Ontario, lad, but I've heard there's gold, +and gold mines are worth finding." + +So that was the secret of this expedition. Hank, a naturally silent +man, had said little about his intentions up to date, and Joe had but a +vague idea as to his real object. For himself, it had been sufficient +that he was to travel through the Canadian wastes with such a pleasant +fellow, and experience a life the very mention of which was most +fascinating. It can be imagined, therefore, that he looked forward to +the meeting with Beaver Jack with some anticipation, and hailed that +taciturn Redskin heartily when, two weeks later, they came across him. + +"You'd say as it aer fair wonderful that we should meet him right up +here in the wilderness," smiled Hank, as he and Joe prepared for the +night's bivouac. "But Jack aer a long-legged man, and, Injun-like, he +turns his toes in. You could tell his mark in the snow amongst a +thousand, and it ain't much altered even with snowshoes. See +there--there's my marks, there's yourn, here's Beaver Jack's." + +"With a longer distance between each one," agreed Joe. "And the back +of each shoe seems to have been trailed along the snow as he went. +There's a clean line every time. With you there's much the same, but +the distance between the shoe marks is less, while mine are broken and +the snow is irregularly marked in between." + +"So as you could swear to any one of the three any day," said Hank. +"Now, guess how it war that I steered a course so as to cross his +tracks." + +The question was one of greater difficulty, and Joe found himself +unable to answer. However, the explanation was simple enough when it +came to be given. + +"It aer like this," smiled Hank. "Beaver Jack don't never come far +into the settlements, and his line ain't never due north. Reckon he +ain't fond of coming across other Injuns that way, nor the half-breeds +that live up towards James Bay. So his line's always to the west. +Ours being north, and cutting up through the country Beaver Jack +crosses, why, in course we was bound to drop across his tracks. Had +sport this season, Jack?" + +The Indian turned slowly upon his questioner and straightened himself, +for he had been bending over the narrow sledge upon which he was wont +to haul his pelts when their number became too burdensome for carrying. +The failing light of a midwinter day fell upon a scarred and seamed +face that might have belonged to a man of sixty, of seventy, or even of +eighty. The brows were drawn down over the eyes, the hooked nose +approached closely to the thin, closely-shut lips, while even the chin, +square and determined, and yet narrower than is customary with white +men, appeared to turn up towards the centre of the face. But the eyes +were the feature that attracted one. Small, and set wide apart, they +flashed round at Hank and then at Joe. At one moment they looked +severe, fierce, almost cruel; the next moment one could have sworn that +they were twinkling. As for the remainder of this native trapper, he +was clad in skin clothing of his own making. Fringed leggings covered +his lanky lower limbs, while a shirt of leather, soft and wonderfully +pliable and stained with much exposure, was over his shoulders, wide +open at the neck, the sleeves reaching only down to his elbows. The +man pointed slowly to his pile of pelts, and then, as if to speak would +be to waste words, bent down over his sledge again and went on with the +work that engaged his attention. + +"He aer a rare 'un to talk," laughed Hank. "You get almost tired of +hearin' his voice. But he kin hunt, and he aer the best man as ever I +came across for calling up the moose. Know what that means, Joe?" + +"Haven't an idea," answered our hero; for even now he was ignorant of +the ways of hunters. + +"Then we'll teach you, me and Jack," said Hank. "Jack, have you seen +moose tracks hereabouts? If there's some of the beasts within twenty +mile, you ain't likely to have missed them." + +The mention of something to do with hunting brought the Indian to an +erect position again with remarkable swiftness. He lifted an arm and +pointed away to the west, to where the snow-clad landscape reared +itself abruptly till, rising to a great height, it cut across the +darkening sky in a succession of jagged peaks, upon which the rays of +the fallen sun flickered, though the orb itself had long since +disappeared from sight. + +"Moose yard up there," he said abruptly; "plenty beast." + +"Then to-morrow we'll see what we kin do with 'em," cried Hank. "We +kin leave our traps 'way down here in this camp, and jest take our +rifles with us. We ain't likely to be back before the night comes, and +ef we're still out on the hills, why, in course we'll make a camp +that'll keep us warm and right till the dawn comes. Now, lad, on with +that kettle; it aer time almost for supper." + +Joe's experience of moose hunting had not been so great up to this +moment that he was not keen on a hunt. Once only, in fact, had he +encountered this huge, fierce beast of the Canadian forests, and then +the moose bull may be said to have hunted him. It was, therefore, with +a certain amount of elation and excitement that he set off with his +comrades on the following morning. Leaving their pelts behind in the +lean-to--for Joe and Hank had trapped and shot many beasts during the +last two weeks--and taking only rifles and ammunition and ready-cooked +food with them--the three turned their faces towards the west, where +the land reared itself up suddenly into a long chain of hills which +might almost be described as mountains. Trudging along in front went +Beaver Jack, as silent as ever, his face always to the front, never +turning his head by so much as an inch, and yet seeing and remembering +every feature of his surroundings. Joe noted the long swing of his +lanky legs, the sliding stride with which he carried his snowshoes from +one part to another, and the manner in which he kicked his shoes from +time to time. Then came Hank, keen and energetic, his rifle across his +shoulder, his shoes sinking hardly at all into the snow. However, Joe +found walking on this occasion somewhat difficult, for the pace the +Indian set was terrific, while a mild-tempered wind had softened the +snow which clung to his shoes, making them ponderously heavy. + +"Steady!" called Hank, after a while, arresting the rapid progress of +the Indian. "This here pal of mine are puffin' and blowin'. Yer see, +Joe, you ain't so used to snowshoein' as Jack and me, and when there's +a thaw it aer heavy work. But jest you watch Beaver Jack. He gives a +sorter kick every few steps, and so rids himself of the weight that you +have to carry. We'll rest here a few minutes, and then you kin go in +front and so set the pace." + +An hour later they began to ascend a little, while within less than two +hours the path they were making took them upward at a somewhat abrupt +angle, which made the work extremely heavy. It was a relief to Joe, +therefore, when Hank called another halt, and when Beaver Jack pointed +away along the side of the mountain. + +"We ain't likely to find moose much higher," said Hank, seating himself +beside Joe; "not because it aer too cold for 'em high up, but because +the stuff they feed on don't grow up there. Seems to me that we've a +biggish wood in front of us, and we've got to make right through it +before we shall come across their tracks. Even then there mayn't be +any of the beasts, for ef they happen to have caught sight of us, or +winded us, which aer far more likely, why, the hull crowd will have +gone right off. You could shoot a charging moose, lad?" + +"I'd try, anyway," answered Joe, mindful of his previous effort. "I +think that by now I ought to be able to hold a gun straight, and if +only I don't get too excited I ought to be able to hit a beast. I'm +ready to move on if you are." + +Once more they began their trudge across the sloping snowfield, Hank +now leading, and presently he plunged into a forest clinging to the +hillside. A wide space beyond was devoid of animal life, though Beaver +Jack declared that moose had recently been across it. Then they dived +into a narrow belt of trees, where the Indian came to a sudden halt. + +"Try here," he said. "Not sure, but think beasts near; and if we go +on, sure to hear us. Wait little--soon ready." + +"Watch him," whispered Hank; "you'll see him set to work as only an +Indian can. He's looking about for a birch tree, and with that knife +of his will strip the bark in a matter of a few minutes. I kin tell +you this, give a Redskin a knife and firelock and powder, and he kin go +anywhere and make most anything in these forests. Birch bark aer the +stuff he puts to roof his lean-to. A long strip cut from an extry big +tree, and shaped and sewn, makes him a canoe that's better than any +other craft known on any water; while, ef it's pots and kettles that's +wanted fer cookin', he can fix the business easy with his knife, and so +long as there's a tree of the right sort about. See him cut that roll +free. Now, in a jiffy he'll have a trumpet." + +Beaver Jack went about his work in a manner which showed that he was +accustomed to it, and came back towards his comrades bearing a long +strip of bark which he was slowly coaxing into the shape of a funnel. +Then with his knife and a few strips of hide cut from the fringes of +his leggings he tied the edges of the bark, so that the implement he +had fashioned retained its shape. A little later he bent his lanky +form, applied the smaller end of the funnel to his mouth, and blew +heavily into it. The lines across forehead and face became even +deeper. To look at the Indian one would have declared that he was in +agony, and no doubt he was making a special effort. The result was +truly wonderful. Joe had heard moose calling before, the sounds they +made echoing through the forest. And here the calls were repeated, +more loudly, it is true, since they were meant to pass to a distance, +but wonderfully realistic and lifelike. + +"Now listen," said Hank, in a whisper. "Ef there's a moose bull within +two mile of this he'll answer." + +The long, deep-toned call produced by Beaver Jack with the aid of his +birch-bark trumpet was answered by a deadly silence that nothing broke, +and though the call was repeated, it appeared as if the result was to +be similar. But suddenly the Indian stirred, while Joe saw Hank's eyes +concentrate themselves upon the forest. Then, far off, there came a +dismal echo of the sound, as if the hillside were casting it back at +the hunters. At once, without so much as a word, the Redskin slunk off +into the forest, Hank and Joe following closely. + +"You kin look for a burst of speed," whispered Hank hurriedly, turning +his head. "There's a moose bull 'way ahead, and Beaver Jack aer going +nearer so as to coax him. Jest make sure as you don't knock that rifle +against the trees, or else there won't be much huntin'." + +Silent after that, with hardly a glance to left or to right, the three +pushed on through the wood, Beaver Jack choosing, as if by instinct, a +path that avoided thick underwood, and allowed himself and his comrades +to retain their snowshoes. Slowly the trees diminished in number, till +they straggled out into the open in broken groups of two and three, and +finally singly, scattered here and there over a wide field of snow that +seemed to be unbroken and unmarked by beasts of any description. To +the left the hills reared their heads abruptly, snow-covered to the +summits, grey and forbidding, as if they resented the coming of these +strangers. Ah! The Redskin had lifted a hand; he came to a halt. + +"He aer going to call agin," whispered Hank, who seemed to be tingling +with excitement. "Ain't that 'ere Beaver Jack clever?" + +None but an expert could, in fact, have produced the impression this +seamed and lined Indian contrived at. That long, deep-toned call, +rising and falling in cadence and halting abruptly, as if only +half-completed, went booming across the snowy waste, and echoed amongst +the pinnacles above. It was followed by a second call, the tone of +which was distinctly angry, as if the beast summoning its own kind were +vexed at the want of an answer. Then, as the same faint response came +to their ears--but this time distinctly nearer--a plaintive note crept +into the summons which Beaver Jack produced with the aid of his +trumpet, till one would have said that even the most heartless of +listeners would have dashed forward promptly. But your moose is +perhaps one of the wariest of beasts. Gifted with acute hearing and +still more pronounced sense of smell, he is almost always suspicious. +The least doubt as to the genuineness of a call, the faintest suspicion +of the presence of others, will keep him sulking in the background, +hidden by the trees, or will send him dashing off madly, his huge +antlers steered with wonderful skill between the branches, so that not +so much as a sound might help a would-be pursuer. It seemed as if the +one in the far distance were of this character, as if he were +suspicious. It made no difference to his movements even when Beaver +Jack, working himself almost into a frenzy with his efforts, produced +more mournful sounds, and then struck the tree trunk beside him +heavily. Still the answering response was weak-toned and far off. + +"He ain't coming, that's truth," whispered Hank. "We shall have to get +along towards him, and this time we shall have to creep over every +yard. Ef the brute does come, you shoot, Joe. I've had many a chance; +so's Jack. Take him jest below the point of the shoulder." + +Joe gripped his rifle with both hands, and saw that the safety catch +was in position; then he fixed his eyes on his two companions. Nor was +it long before there was a movement. Beaver Jack bent double and, +thrusting the muzzle of his weird birch trumpet into the snow, sent +forth a challenge which seemed to skim curiously over the hillside and +burst into bigger volume in the distance. Then he dropped on to hands +and knees, having already kicked off his snowshoes and slung them over +his shoulders. A second later he was creeping away amidst the +scattered trees, casting more than one glance over his shoulder. + +"This aer a fair conundrum," whispered Hank to Joe, when the little +party again came to a standstill. "I've hunted moose many a time, and, +as a rule, ef there ain't no wind, as is the case jest now, and a +hunter aer cautious, there ain't no great difficulty in coming up with +them. Of course it isn't every Indian who can call, let alone a white +man. A Redskin is kinder born to it, and most of 'em can call same as +ef they was real moose. Guess Beaver Jack aer one of 'em. But look +what's happenin' to-day. There's no getting nearer the beast that's +answered. He's heard our call and has challenged back, but he goes off +a bit every time we move forward." + +"Perhaps there's something else disturbing him," ventured Joe, somewhat +baffled for an answer, cautiously raising his lips to Hank's ear. "I +notice that Beaver Jack has looked over his shoulder once or twice as +if he thought there might be something behind us. Perhaps he's heard a +call from that direction." + +"Nary a one. Ef there had been I'd have heard it," asserted Hank, with +decision; "but there may be beasts following. Ef it warn't fer the +snow you could hear 'em by listening closely with an ear to the ground +or placed hard up agin the trunk of one of the trees. But snow muffles +most sounds, especially footsteps. Ah! That 'ere beast called from a +point a little closer." + +Whatever the cause of their want of success, Beaver Jack and Hank were +not the men to give up the chase without a further effort, and without +some show of that wonderful patience for which hunters are notorious. +Time and again the Redskin repeated his call, and on a dozen occasions +the trio went forward, crawling over the snow on their stomachs. At +length, when Joe's small stock of patience was almost exhausted, the +answering call came from a point distinctly nearer. + +"That 'ere bull aer fair bothered," observed Hank, as Beaver Jack again +buried the muzzle of his trumpet. "He aer been retreating all this +while, and now it seems to me as ef he'd made up his mind that things +was square, and had come towards us at a gallop. Ef he charges, don't +wait too long. Give him a shot, and then ram in a cartridge." + +It was perhaps some ten minutes later that the undergrowth clambering +about the stems of a thick clump of evergreen pines three hundred yards +from the hunters was suddenly rent asunder, and there emerged into the +open two gigantic animals, the moose bull ahead and his consort behind +him. As for the former, Joe could even at that distance see that his +short mane was bristling, while his head was thrown upward, his antlers +being carried high in the air, while one fore leg was poised, as if he +were in the very act of galloping forward. + +"Hah!" Joe heard Hank grunt. "That aer the meaning of the mystery. +That 'ere bull has gone on retreating till he felt as ef he were bound +to go no farther, as ef, in fact, he'd be a coward ef he didn't turn +and face the danger. You kin look out for trouble." + +Click! went the safety catch of Joe's rifle. He swung it into position +and, taking careful aim, pulled the trigger. Almost at once there came +a snorting grunt from the moose bull. The beast threw his fore legs +into the air and stood there poised for the instant. A second later he +had launched himself against the little group of hunters, and came +charging towards them at a speed which was terrific. + +"Agin!" cried Hank, his eyes gleaming, while his fingers closed round +his own weapon. Up went our hero's gun again, and once more his eye +ranged along the sights. But he never pulled the trigger, for, of a +sudden, there came a loud report from behind him, while something +struck the snow three yards in rear and ricochetting from the surface +went humming and screaming over his head. Then came a second shot, +falling almost on the self-same spot, while the powdered snow driven +upward by the bullet swept against his face in a thick cloud which +almost blinded him. Sweeping the crystals away with one hand, he +stared across the open, while Hank's sharp tones roused him from the +form of stupor into which he had fallen. + +"Git loaded," he commanded shortly, "and soon as you've given 'em a +shot, run back where that 'ere moose has bolted. Reckon there's a pack +of half-breeds after us." + +The sharp snap of his weapon was heard instantly, and was followed by a +shot from Beaver Jack's rifle. Then Joe, wrestling with the excitement +into which this sudden interference had thrown him, levelled his own +weapon at the foremost of two dog sleighs dashing across the open +towards them, and steadily pulled the trigger. + +"On snowshoes," cried Hank sharply. "Now, Beaver Jack, you kin take +post behind us. You're the best when it comes to huntin', but when +there's a ruction same as this is, guess Hank ain't in need of no +coaching. Joe, you come second. Ef they gets much closer, you've to +keep a tree between you and them most of the time, and ef they looks +like heading us, why, in course we shall have to look lively to find a +suitable place to hold, and must get to and fight 'em." + +He turned without further warning, and with his rifle trailed in one +hand dashed across the snow towards the thick clump of evergreens from +which the bull moose had so lately put in an appearance. As for the +beast and his consort, both had turned at the sound of that far-off +shot and had dashed away at a pace which took them out of sight within +a minute. It was but a few seconds later when the same evergreens +closed about the figures of our hero and his comrades. + +"We've got to search for thick forest all the while," called Hank +softly over his shoulder. "Then those dog sleighs won't be able to +make much pace, and so won't easily come up to us. Gee, this aer a do! +I reckoned all the while as there was something queer happenin', +something that that bull moose kinder scented and yet warn't sure of. +This aer a fair business." + +The sudden change in the fortunes of the little party was indeed +extraordinary and inexplicable. Had either of the three been asked the +question that morning, they would have declared that to the best of +their belief there was not another living human being within a radius +of perhaps a hundred miles. Yet see what had happened. Ever since an +early hour that morning two sleighs, drawn by dogs, had been following +their tracks up to the hills and along the elevated ground they had +taken. Figures wrapped in skin garments much the same as Beaver Jack +wore had trudged beside the sleighs, whirling their whips now and again +above the heads of the teams they were driving. Then, coming to that +open space across which the chase had taken our hero and his friends, +these strangers had leaped on to their sleighs and had come across the +frozen surface at a rattling pace that brought them within long rifle +shot of the hunters as Joe was in the very act of achieving a triumph. +When the latter turned, having narrowly escaped two bullets, it was to +perceive the two sleighs being driven rapidly forward, one some ten +feet in advance of the other. Instantly his eyes were attracted to the +former; for in front sat a huddled figure, above whose head a +long-lashed whip swirled and cracked, while behind there stood a burly +man balancing himself wonderfully, and with rifle at his shoulder. + +Who could he be? What was the cause of this sudden and unprovoked +attack? From whence had come these men who had sprung upon the scene +so unexpectedly? No wonder that Hank was troubled. Beaver Jack's +seamed and heavily-lined face displayed not the smallest surprise or +vexation; but Joe's features were a study. There was anger on his +face; his lips were firmly pressed together. His bull-dog chin was, if +anything, a little squarer than usual. + +"Gee!" he cried. "Well, I'm jiggered." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Pursued by Unknown Enemies + +For the better part of an hour Hank led his two comrades across the +snow-clad side of the hill, guiding them between the trees of the patch +of forest land which they had now entered, and keeping always to the +west. Then, without show of hesitation, he plunged into a wide-open +strip across which could be traced, even at a distance, the tracks left +by the two moose they had so recently accosted. Nor did he slacken his +pace till a second belt of forest land appeared, and the trio had once +more dived into cover. + +"You kin sit down and rest awhile and get yer breath," he said shortly. +"Me and Beaver Jack'll watch to see what's happenin' to them varmint. +Gee! I'd give a pile of dollars to know who they are and for why +they've taken it into their ugly heads to follow and attack us. You +ain't got no notion, Jack?" + +The Indian, who had already thrown himself down beneath an evergreen +with his face turned in the direction in which they had been coming, +merely grunted. It seemed almost as if he considered an answer +superfluous. Then, as Hank repeated his question somewhat +peremptorily, the Redskin swung over on to his right side and looked +back at the hunter. + +"Not sure," he said. "Bad men, anyway; half-breeds, p'raps. But want +to kill us; maybe they think there is money." + +"Then they're jest makin' an almighty error," grinned Hank, who seemed +to be amused at the idea, and who, in any case, desperate though the +position might be, seemed in no way put out or bereft of his usual +cheeriness and assurance. "They're jest making a tarnation error ef +money's what they're after, for Joe and I ain't got much more than the +price of a tin of 'bacca between us. We've sunk it in land, Jack, land +as thieves like them can't grab. But half-breeds they are, I'd guess; +though why they should follow us beats me hollow. P'raps they're +discharged servants of the Hudson Bay Company, and, happenin' to fall +across our tracks, thought to knock us over the heads and clear all +that we've got. There's two sides to that sort of business. I ain't +never allowed people to give me knocks without rousin' trouble, and +guess them 'ere varmint is in fer a little now. Joe, ha' you got any +sort o' notion who they could be?" + +Was it likely that our hero could have even an idea? After all, his +experience of Canada was decidedly limited. It is true that the months +he had spent with Peter Strike had taught him a great deal, while his +stay in the lumber camp, and the unending yarns of the men when +gathered of an evening round the fire, had furnished him with many a +little incident telling of the life of the settlers and also of old +colonists. Indeed, there were men there who had passed to the north as +far as Hudson Bay, and who, when pressed, had spoken of the long, dark +winters, of the sparse population, of the half-breeds to be found at +and about the forts erected by the all-dominating Hudson Bay Company. +But search his memory as he might, there was nothing in those yarns to +give him an inkling as to who these marauders could be; in fact, he had +gathered that life was peculiarly secure even in the out-of-the-way +parts of the Dominion. Why, therefore, should he and his two comrades +have been so suddenly and unexpectedly attacked? + +"Beats me, Hank," he exclaimed, shaking his head. "I got wondering +once whether it could be Hurley, who somehow got to learn that you and +I were off for a prospecting tour. But is it likely?" + +The little hunter stuffed the bowl of his thin pipe with one firm +finger tip, while he stared away across the open along the tracks which +he and his comrades had made. It was clear that his eyes were hardly +observing his surroundings. He was thinking deeply, and his coon-skin +cap, though it was pulled low down on to his forehead, failed to hide +the deep wrinkles which had suddenly appeared, and which even ran down +over his brows to the corners of the eyes. He struck a match--for that +was one of the luxuries of civilization which he clung to in the +backwoods, though Beaver Jack was above such trivial help--and slowly +lit the weed. + +"I never thought o' that," he said at last; "but it ain't likely. +You've got to bear in mind that Hurley ha got a rope round his neck +every day of the week and every hour of his life. He aer likely to be +informed against every time he sets his ugly nose near the settlements; +and sense you may say as he's always in danger of being taken, it +stands to reason that he ain't going to risk his neck jest for the sake +of gettin' quits with two of the chaps who helped to chase him. No, it +ain't reasonable. Seems to me as it aer likely that what Beaver Jack +says aer right. Them 'ere skunks is half-breeds out ter rob. They've +perhaps been huntin'. P'raps they belong to some station north of +this, and has been sent along to get stores or to take a message, +though as a general rule there ain't much of that sorter work done in +the winter. Anyways, they dropped on our trace and, seein' as there +was three of us, made up their minds to wipe us out. But ef they ain't +mighty careful they'll come up agin bad trouble afore they're much +older." + +That was the utmost that one could say of this mystery. After all, +what difference did it make who these strangers might be? It could not +help Joe and his friends to be sure of their names, not in the +slightest. But still Joe puzzled. Could it be Hurley? + +"Nonsense!" he told himself. "Hank must be right. The man would never +risk his neck just on the offchance of killing a couple of the men who +helped to arrest him. All the same, I wish he'd never escaped, and in +any case, I am awfully sorry about that envelope he took from me. I've +bothered about it a whole heap; for though I feel sure that the +contents were of no actual monetary value, yet there was some message +of great importance which Father wished me to have once I had made some +sort of a place in the world. What could it have been?" + +What, indeed? Of what use to worry, seeing that Hurley had relieved +our hero of the missive, and then, when that rascal had been captured, +though his dollar bills were forthcoming, there was no trace of the +letter? It was gone. Perhaps even Hurley was already captured, while +the men following at that moment, and still out of sight, had +undoubtedly no connection with the outlaw who had so nearly ended Joe's +attempts at settling in this vast dominion. + +"Guess they've been bothered by the trees, and has had to climb out of +the sledges and walk quiet," chuckled Hank, when a quarter of an hour +had passed without a sight of the enemy. "Now see here, mates, our +game aer as clear as daylight. With this here snow all around we can't +hope to smother our tracks and get clear off. Ef it war springtime, or +summer, a babe could do it. There's fifty ways more or less. We could +climb a tree, sneak along from branch to branch in a wood same as this +and then drop into a river, takin' care to land somewhere whar there +was rock. In course, ef it snowed jest now that'd help us. But then +it ain't goin' to snow. There's nary a cloud in the sky, so it simply +comes to holding them off as long as we're able, and this here aer jest +the spot to work it. Guess me and Joe'll have a bite while Jack +watches. When we've done, he can have a turn." + +It was an excellent proposal on the hunter's part, and Joe seized upon +the opportunity, for the brisk air and the excitement of the day had +given him a keen appetite, and our hero had become somewhat notorious +for that since he came to this glorious country. He and Hank sat down, +therefore, and, pulling some of their ready-cooked food from their pack +bags, made a hearty meal. Then Beaver Jack was relieved, while Joe +took his place. + +"Jest keep yer eyes skinned, and follow every inch of the line of the +wood 'way across the open," said Hank. "I'm goin' to take a look round +on either hand and in front. It wouldn't do to sit tight here waitin' +and waitin', and have them skunks round us up and come along towards us +from the opposite direction. You kin never say what sort o' tricks a +half-breed will be up to, so jest look lively." + +He went off through the trees for all the world as if he were a ghost, +his snowshoes making not so much as a sound. Joe lay flat on his face +in the snow, taking the same position that Beaver Jack had selected. +Placing his rifle a little to one side and somewhat in front, he stared +steadily across the open, watching the edge of the wood from which they +had themselves lately emerged, and then gazing to right and to left. +But not yet could he detect the presence of the enemy, and since they +were not there, he fell again to wondering who they were, from whence +they had come, and for what purpose they had attacked a party of +hunters who could by no possibility have done them harm, and who, in +any case, could not be the possessors of great wealth. As to his own +feelings on the question of personal danger, he had not so much as a +qualm. Perhaps, if he had been warned that an attack was to be made, +he would have been thrown into that curious condition which is neither +caused by fear nor by anxiety, but merely by that natural agitation of +spirit which comes to the average man when danger threatens. But here +Joe had been, as it were, suddenly pitchforked into the midst of +turmoil. At one moment he had been facing a charging moose, a +situation requiring nerve, and the next he had found himself the object +of bullets sent by an enemy from behind. Ah, there they were! The +irregular line of the forest was of a sudden broken; Joe had been +gazing in that direction but a second earlier and had seen nothing. +Now, when his eyes swung once more to that quarter, two sleighs stood +out prominently, their dog teams sprawling out ahead of them. The dark +figures of five men moved about the sleighs, and it was clear from +their movements that they had been marching through the forest, and +were now about to mount their vehicles again. + +"Slipping off their snowshoes and getting ready for a burst of speed +across the open," said Joe to himself. "That'll be the time to read +'em a lesson, and seems to me they deserve one." + +He turned his head for a moment and beckoned to Beaver Jack; then, +picking up his rifle, he laid the sights on one of the sledges and +waited for a forward move on the part of the enemy. Nor could it be +said that our hero had the smallest doubt as to what his action should +be, or the slightest compunction at the thought of firing on these +strangers. + +"It's they or us," he told himself, "and they have a bigger party. Ah! +what's that? More of them!" + +No wonder he gave vent to a cry of amazement, for a hurried inspection +of the party aboard the pursuing sleighs had given him the impression +at the beginning of this strange encounter that there were only four or +more in the party. Now he knew that the sleighs bore five. But just +as that number had embarked, he was thunderstruck to see four more dark +figures issue from the irregular line of the forest and move out on to +the open snow. At the same instant there was a slight noise beside +him, so, turning his head, he found Hank had returned and had taken up +a position. He lay full length, his rifle to his hand, his eyes glued +on the enemy. + +"The tarnation skunks!" Joe heard him growl. "I ain't surprised to see +more of 'em. That jest explains why they've been so slow in following. +The sleigh party went ahead, hoping to drive right up to us and finish +the business. T'others followed afoot, and when the fust lot was +disappointed, why, they halted for a while so as they could all come +along together. This aer mighty awkward. Yer see, ef they breaks up +into several lots, we can't hope to keep 'em back. There's enough +hollows and trees out there in the open to give 'em shelter, and in +course of time they're bound to close in on us. This aer a tarnation +fix." + +There was little doubt, in fact, that Joe and his comrades were face to +face with a dangerous dilemma. For, as Hank was not slow to point out, +if merely the two sleigh parties attempted a dash across the open, he +and Joe and Jack might very well hope to pick some of the enemy off, +and even to force them to retreat; but with four others added, and they +on snowshoes, it would be next door to impossible to hold them at a +distance. + +"It aer come to a council," said Hank, scratching his head. "To me it +seems likely enough that them cusses aboard the sleighs'll try a dash. +Wall, that won't help 'em overmuch, for in a jiffy we'll teach 'em +something worth learnin'. What bothers me is to say how we should work +ef they makes across, taking advantage of every bit of cover. Where +are we to go? We can't keep runnin' away for ever. 'Sides, I ain't so +sure as I'm ready to show my heels to skunks same as these." + +There was a resentful, threatening note in his words, and, glancing at +the little hunter, Joe saw that his face was flushed, while his little +eyes were flashing dangerously. After all, in spite of his somewhat +diminutive proportions, there was quite a lot of the bull dog about +Hank. Those who knew the hunter knew him to be a cunning and +courageous tracker, a man to be depended on, a friend worth having, an +enemy more than difficult to make--for Hank hated quarrels, and was for +ever ready to forgive and forget--and yet an enemy to be duly feared +and placated. Those who had been so unfortunate never to have had the +opportunity of meeting this remarkable little man, save on one +occasion, were none the less impressed. Hank's was a personality that +bred confidence. Strength of character, honesty of purpose, bull-dog +determination were written plainly on his face, even while it was +wreathed with the most cordial smiles. Joe had felt the very same +about his friend. Hank had impressed him from the first. Sometimes he +imagined that long acquaintance had disclosed all the hunter's points, +good and bad, to him. But even now he had something to learn. He had +never seen his friend in a similar position to this; he had never known +him when he was the object of an unprovoked attack, and when the odds +were opposed to him. But seeing his firm face now, the strong +determination on every feature, his own chin took on something of the +same aspect. Looking at the two as they lay side by side, one would +have said at once that while the elder man could be relied on whatever +the position, his youthful comrade was not one whit behind him. + +"Wall?" came from Hank dryly, while the lock of his rifle clicked. +"Ain't you goin' to speak?" + +Joe looked sharply across at him. "Eh?" he asked. "I thought you were +speaking to Beaver Jack and asking his opinion." + +"And mighty nice of you, lad," came the answer. "I like to see a young +chap as keeps his mouth shut till his elders has spoken. But there +ain't too much time before us, and 'sides, I know that Jack would ha +spoken already ef he had anything to say. What's your idea? You've +reckoned the position. You ain't ready to go on runnin' away from a +set o' skunks same as them, aer you?" + +"No!" came emphatically from our hero. "Partly because I couldn't. +I'd soon be done, for this snowshoeing is heavy work to one who is not +hardened. Then I don't see why I should. Who are they that we should +run from them? Let 'em prove that they are stronger." + +"Gee! You'll do!" cried Hank. "That's the sort of spirit. Wall, now, +you've some sort of idea?" + +"None." Joe was bound to confess it. "But," he went on, "it seems to +me that we ought to look out for some place which we can hold. Of +course it could only be for a short while, as we have no large supply +of food; but it would bring this business to a head. Perhaps these +fellows would make an attack and give us a chance of beating them. If +not, why--well something might turn up to help, and in any case it +would be better than this constant running." + +"And I'm with you," cried Hank; "only jest now there's not so much as +the sight of a place where we could hold 'em, and till one turns up, +why, in course, it's run we must. But we'll keep a bright lookout. +See here, and jest you listen, Beaver Jack. We'll give them fellers a +dusting ef they try to cross, and then we'll trail arms and slink off +through the forest. Something'll turn up soon to help us." + +It was perhaps two minutes later that there was a general move on the +part of the enemy. The leading man aboard each sleigh was seen to +stand, gripping the reins in one hand while he swung a short-handled +whip with the other, one which boasted of an enormously long and heavy +lash that even a moderately skilful operator could cause to crack with +the sound of a rifle report. + +"Ay, and more'n that," Hank had observed on one occasion. "I've known +men who could swing a whip so as to cut in two anything that was +anywheres within reach. One half-breed from 'way up north could stand +on his head even and cut slick through a chunk of bread, while there +ain't one of them that's used to the whip and has dogs to drive that +couldn't set a pal up afore him with a cigarette in his mouth and jest +flick the cigarette away as easy and as sartin as winkin'. Then, too, +the cut of a heavy lash same as they use is that keen, they say some of +'em could nearly divide a dog with it, ay, cut him in two, while they'd +easy whip a chunk out o' the poor beasts. Cruel! In course them whips +is cruel, and so's the men. But then you ain't dealing with ordinary +dogs; them critters is fierce, and ef they was hungry ain't above +tearing a human to pieces." + +But this was not the moment for discussing the pros and cons of dog +whips, nor the prowess of the men who wield them; for the enemy were on +the move. It seemed almost as if they had made up their minds to +ignore all thoughts of danger; or perhaps they imagined that Hank had +led his two comrades steadily forward, and was not lying beneath the +trees beyond the open space waiting with loaded rifles for them. In +any case, the drivers sent their whips cracking over their teams, while +the dogs responded by leaping into their harness and speeding away from +the irregular line of the forest. At the same moment the four men on +foot, who were shod with snowshoes, shot out from the cover and, +dividing till a wide interval separated each man, came speeding across +the snow. + +"Beaver Jack takes 'em to right," said Hank steadily, not a waver in +his voice. "I take the critters in the centre; Joe pays partic'lar +attention to the varmint on the left. Fire as you get 'em in line with +your sights." + +A spurt of flame issued from his own muzzle a second or so later, Joe +peering out across the snow to see what effect the bullet had; and once +more he was witness of the effect of a missile striking a glancing blow +on the snowfield. A cloud of white particles suddenly leaped up in +front of the foremost sleigh, hiding the men aboard it, while a shout +came from the enemy. + +"Missed 'em by a pip," observed Hank, ramming in a fresh cartridge. +"You, Joe." + +Our hero lined his sights on the second sleigh, followed the moving +object for a moment, then pressed his trigger; and all the while as he +aimed he was wondering at his own coolness. He might indeed have been +firing at inanimate objects. The idea that he was aiming at living men +hardly seemed to trouble him in the slightest, while if he had any +qualms at the thought that his bullet might slay a fellow being, he +never showed them. + +"It's they or us," he repeated for the tenth time at least. "They've +made an unprovoked attack, and must put up with the consequences." + +Bang! His own weapon spat forth a bullet, while a cloud of white smoke +belched from the muzzle, to die away at once. All eyes went toward the +sleigh he had aimed at, and once again the tell-tale spray of snow +showed exactly where the missile had landed, and precisely by how much +it had missed the enemy. + +"Not bad shootin'," said Hank. "Them sleighs is moving fast, and you +want to give 'em at least a yard ahead when you're aiming. Beaver +Jack, jest you see what you're made of." + +There came a grunt from the Redskin. Joe watched the seamed and lined +and strangely-impassive face of the Indian go down towards the butt of +his rifle. He saw the hooked nose settle itself against the wood of +the stock, while one of the keen eyes seemed to become rather more +prominent. There came a sharp report, and almost at once an answering +scream from the distance. + +"Good fer you!" cried Hank. "Guess you got the man aboard the leading +sleigh, and in falling backward he aer pulled the team in. Jest sit +tight while I give 'em another, and you follow quick with your bullet, +Joe lad." + +In rapid succession the two shots were fired, and it seemed more than +probable that they had hit their mark, for the men aboard the leading +sleigh were thrown in great confusion. One was seen to stand and grip +at the reins which his wounded comrade had allowed to fall. Then the +team of dogs was headed round, the whip cracked, and in a trice the +sleigh was being steered for the forest. Meanwhile a shot from Beaver +Jack had caused one of the men gliding across the snow afoot to dodge +suddenly to one side, and that, with the evidence the enemy now had +that Hank and his friends had them under their rifles, sent the +remainder of the band retracing their steps at a pace which was +furious. Shouts escaped from them as they raced for cover, and in +little more than a minute all had disappeared from view. + +"That aer lesson number one," said Hank grimly, as he slid a fresh +cartridge into position. "Ef them 'ere critters thought they was going +to slit our throats without our kicking up a rumpus, why, they've found +out the error. It'll make 'em a trifle more cautious now that one of +'em's gone under, and they kin see that we are able to shoot; but it +won't turn 'em, I'm thinkin'. A half-breed ain't easily frightened, +and ef it's gain they are after, why, this'll make 'em all the keener." + +"What will they do, then?" asked Joe, who still lay on his face, his +eyes glued on the distant forest. "It seems to me that if we can only +stay here and hold them, they cannot get nearer. Of course, when night +comes we shall be unable to see them, and nothing will prevent their +getting closer." + +"Guess that aer solid truth," agreed Hank. "But there's more besides. +I've been takin' a good look round, and I've kinder put myself in the +place of them critters. Wall, now, it aer clear that we can't climb +over the ridge to our left. It rises quickly, and the snow lies in +deep drifts; so we've got to go dead straight ahead or cut away down to +the valley we left this morning. That being so, ef they believe we +mean to lie here and hold 'em from crossing the open, they'll leave a +man just to show himself every now and then, while the rest of the +party strikes downhill and gets abreast of us. Then they'll come +climbing up, and ef we stays they'll have us hard up agin the hill +before we know what's happened. Leastwise, that's what I should do ef +I was their leader." + +"So you advise that we move on at once?" asked Joe, rising to his feet. +"Perhaps farther along we shall come upon some place which would offer +good shelter, some sort of natural fort in which we could take cover. +I've an idea that----" + +He came to a sudden stop and pointed out across the snow-covered ground +before them. + +"One of them critters," growled Hank. "Seems as ef I might be right. +He's showing clear, and--yes, there ain't a doubt about it. He's got +one arm hung in a sling." + +There came an instant response from Beaver Jack, a deep-toned grunt. +His keen eyes had evidently taken in all that was passing. "Same man +as sit on the sleigh and tumble backwards," he grunted. "Not badly +hurt. Bullet make hole through the arm, and that nothing." + +"Only it jest makes him useless for the moment. See here," said Hank, +"I'll move into the open and give him a shot. Likely as not he'll +signal to his comrades." + +On second thoughts the little hunter refrained from using his rifle. +"I might hit him," he said, "and that ain't what I want. I'll jest let +him get a squint at me, so as to make him feel sartin we're remaining +here; then I'll hop back till he shows agin. Ah! Ain't that given him +pleasure? He's gone into cover, but ef you look close you kin see him +just inside the line o' trees wavin'. Gee! Don't they take us fer +soft 'uns? As ef a baby wouldn't guess what was up." + +There was no doubt now that the enemy, whoever they might be, had taken +the course which Hank guessed at. Their design was clear and apparent, +for the wounded man made repeated appearances during the next ten +minutes, diving into the trees again on each occasion. + +"You was sayin' that you had an idea," said Hank at length, stretching +himself beside our hero. "What aer that idea?" + +"I was thinking of the sort of place that would suit us," began Joe. +"It occurred to me that there must be many little hollows which might +serve our purpose, provided that they could not be overlooked; for it +wouldn't do for these beggars to climb higher and pitch their bullets +down upon us." + +"That aer sense," agreed Hank. "Wall?" + +"But----" + +"There aer always a but," asserted the little hunter. "It aer there +that gumption always comes in. Nothing goes right and straight in this +world unless you help it. A man has to use his wits and his strength +most always. What aer this but?" + +"Just this," said Joe. "What's the use of a fort--a natural fort I'm +meaning, though the same thing applies of course to one built by human +hands--what's the use of such a place if you can't live in it?" + +"Eh?" Hank pushed back his coon-skin cap and scratched his head. This +argument was getting somewhat beyond him. He was a cute and cunning +little fellow, stuffed full of worldly experience and of forest lore, +but subtle argument was beyond him. "See here, Joe," he cried, +somewhat testily; "plain words are wanted jest now. What's the meaning +of this here fort that you've mentioned? Are you propounding a sorter +puzzle?" + +That set Joe grinning for the moment; but almost at once he became +serious. "I'm in dead earnest, Hank," he said. "But this is what I'm +driving at. We've no grub to speak of." + +"Precious little." + +"And no pots nor pans." + +"I'm a-getting through with the argiment," declared the hunter. + +"And it's likely to be mighty cold when we're cooped up in some hollow +and unable to move about as we are now doing. In fact, blankets are +wanted." + +"All that aer sense," said Hank, jamming his hat back into place and +staring closely at our hero. "Wall?" + +"Well, my idea is this. Since we can't climb away to the left, as the +ground rises so steeply, and as we can make the pace hot if we happen +to be going downhill, why not strike in that direction at once, sweep +to the right, and make back for our camp? That'll give us food and +pots and pans and blankets. We'll be better able then to look about us +for some sort of place that will give us cover. Tell you straight, +Hank, I'm getting more worried at the thought that the supper'll be +small to-night than I am at the knowledge that those rascals are after +us." + +Hank grinned widely; his queer little lips, usually pursed close +together, parted in a capacious smile which he only indulged in on +occasion. A deep-throated grunt came from him, and almost at once his +rifle leapt across his shoulder. + +"That aer solid sense," he cried at length. "Guess we'll make slick +back to our camp, and then, when we've collected our traps and had a +feed, why, we kin give some sort of attention to this other business. +I'll step out agin so as to allow the critter yonder to see me. Then +we'll face downhill, wait till the enemy ha' crossed in front, and go +away over their tracks straight back to the spot where our traps are +lying." + +It was not by any means certain, of course, that this plan of procedure +would improve their lot and aid them in escaping from the half-breeds +who had so unwarrantably attacked them; but at least, if they were +successful in reaching their camp, it would provide them with a hearty +meal, and that was something. + +"A full stummick makes a man look differently at troubles," observed +Hank, as he slipped on his snowshoes. "Difficulties seem to slide away +as soon as you've a good supper tucked behind your waistcoat. Joe, +we'll reach the camp even ef there's a hundred critters between us and +the place. Jest sling yer rifle, and don't forget, ef you hear a sound +or see one of the varmint, jest drop as ef you was dead. Silence and +cunning will help us heaps more'n bullets." + +With rifles slung, and Hank in advance, the trio once more set +themselves in motion. The little hunter went straight on into the wood +till he was sure that none outside could see them, then he turned his +face downhill, and, setting an easy pace, led his comrades towards the +valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Choosing a Fortress + +Barely ten minutes had passed from the moment when Hank led the way +downhill, from the spot where he and his comrades had taken up their +position and had repulsed the enemy, till the little hunter suddenly +lifted an arm, bringing the party to an abrupt halt. Then he signalled +to Beaver Jack, and with the lean, lanky figure of the Redskin beside +him, stood listening intently. A second later all three were lying +flat on their faces. + +"You kin hear folks moving somewhars about," whispered the little +hunter in Joe's ear, "but where they aer is more'n I kin say at the +moment. Yer see, the snow makes things mighty difficult, while the +tree trunks break up every sound and scatter it in all directions. But +them critters is moving near. Seems likely they ha' halted for a +while." + +Tense silence fell upon the three, while each one huddled his body +deeper into the snow, edging behind the largest tree and doing his +utmost to make himself invisible. Hank, indeed, burrowed beneath the +snow, and extracting huge handfuls of the white crystals, tossed them +over his body. + +"In course no half-breed and no Injun would pass us within a hundred +yards and not see us," he said grimly. "But every little helps in +cases like this. S--s--sh! Didn't I hear someone callin'?" + +"Down there." Joe pointed eagerly downhill, hardly even whispering the +words. And then, quite plainly to the ears of every one of the party, +there came the note of a human voice, subdued and eager. Rising in +cadence for the instant, it fell immediately and then died away +altogether. Afterwards not a sound disturbed the ghostly silence of +the patch of forest through which they were passing; that is, not a +sound audible to our hero. Hank's staring eyes and the eager +expression on the hawk-like face of the Redskin told their own story. +They heard something. To them the presence of the enemy was evident. +Ah! Joe buried his head still deeper, for away in the distance a +figure came of a sudden into view sliding silently between the tree +trunks. A second followed, muffled to the eyes; a third, a fourth, +till eight in all were visible. Perhaps two hundred yards separated +them from Joe and his comrades. Perhaps they were even closer. In any +case, their proximity was such that the little party in hiding was in +the utmost danger. One point, however, was in their favour. The enemy +were facing the west, and were cutting across the line of flight which +our hero had suggested. A minute passed, then two. It began to look +as if the danger would be gone in a few moments. Then, of a sudden, +that low-pitched, eager voice was heard again, and, raising his head +ever so slightly, Joe saw that the enemy had halted and were now +bunched together. + +"Talking it over," he told himself, hearing voices. "They have an idea +that they have come far enough west, and that now they had better cut +uphill again, having got well behind us. Wish they had gone on another +hundred yards or so, then there wouldn't have been any danger." + +"The critters!" he heard Hank growl. "Ef they ain't turning uphill at +this instant!" + +That indeed seemed to be the intention of the enemy; for, breaking from +the circle into which they had collected, they went off again in single +file, one burly individual leading. As for the features of these +unfriendly strangers, what they were like and of exactly what +nationality, neither Joe nor Hank nor Beaver Jack had the smallest +inkling; for the enemy one and all were thickly clad in furs, muffled +to their eyes, and at that distance seemed to be merely grotesque +bundles of clothing. This, however, was certain--they were adepts at +the art of snowshoeing. Not one but was accustomed to the forest, for +beyond a voice or two not another sound had come from them. Facing the +hillside, they curled off in that direction and slowly moved upward. + +"It aer a toss up," Hank whispered, under his breath. "Yer see, now +that they've turned they gets a broadside view of where we're lying +instead of a head-on view. See here, Joe, ef they spots us, jest get +in behind a tree and pepper 'em; if they don't, be ready to move off +the instant we're able. Seems to me as ef I've an idea that'll bother +them badly." + +The ten minutes which followed were trying, for once again the enemy +halted, gathering together to discuss the situation. It appeared as if +they were a little uncertain of their position, and at one moment they +appeared to be on the point of proceeding in the direction which they +were taking when first Joe and his friends saw them. But at last they +went on again and slowly passed out of hearing. + +"That war a near go," whispered Hank, with a sigh of relief, as he rose +to an erect position. "Now fer that idea of mine. Yer see, we've got +to bother 'em badly, fer it won't be long afore they comes upon the +spot where we were lying. In course there'll be a hullabaloo at once, +and back they'll come after us. Ef they're sure of the line we've +taken they'll cut clear across for their sleighs, and then there won't +be a dog's chance for us. Joe, look lively jest now, and see as you do +as you see me and Beaver Jack doing." + +He faced downhill without another word, while the Redskin fell in +behind him. Indeed, the silent man seemed to have already guessed at +Hank's intentions, or was it that the cunning learned by all hunters is +of such a class that their minds move always on parallel lines, and +difficulties are met in almost similar fashion? Whatever the reason, +Beaver Jack seemed to have guessed intuitively what Hank's plan was to +be, and fell in behind him without uttering a syllable. Then came Joe, +watching closely, wondering what new tricks he would see put into +execution. + +"It aer plain," began Hank, when at length he had reached the track +along which the enemy had so recently passed, "it aer clear as daylight +that when them critters finds that we have moved, they will come +dashing downhill as ef there was demons behind 'em. They'll come along +in our tracks, and ef we was to cross their own here and cut a line of +our own, why, in course there wouldn't be any need for 'em to wait to +look about for the direction. So here we plays an old Injun game that +ain't so often practised in these days--now!" + +He swung round, and moving a few paces beside the track which the +half-breeds had followed, joined it at an acute angle, making it appear +as if he and his comrades were going in the same direction. Then the +wily little hunter stepped out of his snowshoes and, reversing his own +direction, thrust his warmly-moccasined feet into them in the reverse +order. + +"Yer catch the idea?" he grinned. "Now I walks along the way they +came, but to look at the marks I'll leave you'd think I was jest going +along with them. It aer said that a bear'll walk backward to his +winter lair so as to deceive his enemies. That's what we're doing." + +With shoes reversed, the little fellow set off at once, halting for a +few seconds, once he had passed his comrades, so as to enable each in +turn to step on to the track and face about. Then the three proceeded, +the turning of their shoes making no great difference to their +movement. As to the track they left, it was inextricably mixed up with +the marks made by the enemy, and seeing that their snowshoes were +reversed, it appeared that they were following the same direction. + +"Not as a Redskin nor a half-breed wouldn't spot the thing right off," +whispered Hank, "that is, ef it war a fresh track we was making; for it +aer natural for a man to put his heel down heavily, even when carrying +a snowshoe, and a practised tracker, same as these half-breeds, would +see that the front part of our shoes is pressed into the snow. But +here there's the marks of eight pairs of shoes already, and our +three'll mix up nicely with 'em. Now, boys, let's git along slick; +every second'll be of importance." + +It was in silence after that that they thrust their way through the +forest, and seeing that the direction the enemy had taken took the +little party downhill, their pace was extremely rapid. Perhaps half an +hour later Hank again came to a halt, pointing before him. + +"Here we takes our own line," he said. "I guess those critters cut +downhill amongst the trees yonder till they had got below a fold in the +ground which would hide them. Then they swung straight across for our +side, knowing that we couldn't see 'em. Wall, we'll do the same; we'll +strike straight out into the open and, cutting away from their track, +dive down the hill into the valley. After that we'll make a bee-line +for the camp, and there make ready for the ruction that's bound to +follow. Seems to me, Joe, as ef I'd already got an idea of a spot that +would give us cover." + +"Stop! Listen!" suddenly exclaimed our hero, raising one hand and +standing in the position of keen attention. "I heard sounds from +behind us. I feel sure that----" + +"Yer ain't got no need to tell us what it aer," said Hank curtly, in +the abrupt way he had when something specially stirred him. "Them +critters has got to the point where they hoped to spring upon us and +wipe us out, and they aer fair bustin' with rage to find that we've +given 'em the slip. They'll be tumblin' downhill now as fast as their +legs will bring 'em, and ef it warn't that we've put up a fine start +and have left something behind to worry 'em a little, they'd be on our +heels afore we could look round. Now, Beaver Jack, guess we've a long +chase afore us; you kin take the lead and strike slick for the camp. +I'll go behind and keep a weather eye open for them critters." + +There was perfect order and coolness amongst the little party, though a +glance at any one of the faces showed that all appreciated the danger +of their position. No one, indeed, could have failed to gather that +discovery of their escape would bring the whole pack of half-breeds +chasing after them; the exchange of shots between the two parties, and +the fact that the enemy had been the first to open fire proved, if +proof were wanted, that a closer approach on their part would result in +more shots, and in the slaying of Joe and his friends, if that were +possible. + +"But why? What is the attack made for?" Joe found himself saying under +his breath again and again. "We don't look to be rich, I'm sure. +We're just ordinary trappers or prospectors, and from what I have +gathered such people don't carry much in the way of money with them. +The rich prospectors, also, don't dream of setting out into the +backwoods during the winter. They choose the spring and summer for two +reasons, I guess. One, because then they can see the land, for there +isn't any snow, and so can search for the veins of metal which attract +them; and secondly, because they haven't severe weather to face. It +beats me hollow; one would have thought that these men had been set +upon us for some other purpose than that of robbery." + +It was one of those questions, in fact, which would have taken a more +worldly-wise fellow than Joe to answer; indeed, had he but known the +true reason of this unlooked-for and undeserved attack, he would have +been astounded. For the band then shrieking and shouting behind them, +and at that moment dashing downhill on their snowshoes, had set out to +search for our hero and his friends. They had hunted high and low for +the trace of two prospectors, for the snowshoe marks left by Joe and +Hank, and had fallen upon those marks prior to their joining hands with +Beaver Jack. But the accession of one to the number of the little +party made not the smallest difference. Why should it? There were +nine in this gang, and only three in the other. + +But Joe had other things to do than to worry his head as to reasons. +After all, what did it matter who this enemy was? What difference +could knowing make to our hero and his friends? For enemies are much +the same all the world through. Once it is demonstrated that they aim +at the slaying of those they follow, all come under the same heading. +All are dangerous, and it behoves those who have to defend their lives +to take the utmost precautions. + +Beaver Jack therefore led the flight at a speed which suited Joe, who +did not find it very hard to keep up, seeing that the way lay downhill. +As for the Redskin, he might have been out for a promenade only; his +shoes slid over the now hard-frozen surface with a queer little +rustling sound, seeming to carry the user's legs rather than to require +effort on his part. His head was sunk low down upon his breast, his +hooked nose and upturned chin approximated. But nothing escaped this +man of the woods, this child of nature, whose hearing and instincts +were as developed as those of the wildest animal. + +Hank made a pretty, if a rugged picture. The little man seemed almost +to have his ears cocked backwards. In any case, they lay flat against +his head, the coon-skin cap just dropping on to them. His head was +erect, and even as he slid along over the snow there was little doubt +that not a sound escaped him. + +"Them critters ha' jest come to the spot whar we dropped in on their +trace," he growled. "You kin tell as they're finely bothered. Seems +to me they'll send a party forward and one along this way, and in a bit +we shall hear a hullabaloo that'll be loud enough to scare the moose +this side of the big lakes. You ain't tired, Joe?" + +"Not I!" came the hearty answer. "Could go on for a while longer." + +"Then you'll have need. There won't be so much between us by the time +we reach camp; then it'll be a case fer thinkin'." + +As if the question of their further movements bothered him, as indeed +it did, his fingers slid up beneath his cap, a habit the little fellow +had, and played with a loose lock of his thick hair; for Hank's hair +was thick. Barbers do not live round the corner in the backwoods of +Canada, and a long crop of hair is rather an advantage to a man when +the temperature is below zero. It followed, therefore, that Hank's +head was well covered, and Joe's also. Indeed, our hero showed a +somewhat ungainly growth of fluff about chin and cheeks and upper lip, +which, if it made promise of budding manhood, could not be said to be +expressly elegant. But there again your backwoodsman shines. The man +who carries all his belongings with him upon his back and sets off for +a winter, meaning to spend it in the open air, subsisting on what his +gun can procure for him, is not likely to be over-nervous as to his +appearance. Hair will grow, and garments will become rent, even with +the greatest care. Life also is too strenuous to make smaller things +matter. Suffice it to say that Joe looked a gentleman in spite of his +get-up, while already he had proved himself a jovial and boon +companion, one ready to enjoy sport if it came, to take the rough with +the smooth, and to face danger as if it were part of the day's +happenings. + +"Ha! There they go, yelping like a pack o' dogs," cried Hank, a little +later, when shouts and yelps came resounding from the forest and across +the snow-clad face of the hillside. "Let 'em yell! It don't do us no +harm, and don't bring the critters any nearer. + +"How far now to camp?" asked Joe, swinging his head round. + +"Guess we're more'n halfway; in half an hour we shall do it. Suppose +these fellers has been there already and has cleared all that we left." + +The suggestion was disconcerting, for supposing the enemy had taken all +the worldly belongings of this little party, how could they face a +prolonged journey? In the summer it would make but little difference, +for a stew-pan and a kettle are not absolute necessaries. Compared +with the needs of the Redskins, they are merely luxuries, though long +acquaintance with those useful articles has made white men find them an +important portion of camping equipment. The habit of tea-drinking +throughout the settlements and townships of the Dominion requires a +kettle, and Joe doubted whether even the resourceful Beaver Jack could +supplement such an article, however many birch trees there might be, +and whatever his skill in fashioning the bark. + +"Never cry till you're kicked," sang out Hank cheerfully, "and when +you're kicked jest kick back mighty hard, ef only to show as you're +still movin'. Ef they've took our kit, it's bad; ef they wipe us out +clean, it's wuss. Let's put on steam a bit." + +Beaver Jack seemed to understand the demand at once, for he broke into +something resembling a jog trot, if there is such a thing when dealing +with snowshoes. In any case, his feet slid over the snow at increased +pace, and Joe found himself sweeping forward at a speed which set the +freezing air buzzing against his ears, and brought a bright flush of +colour to his face. It soon became evident, too, that the wily Redskin +had noted every feature of the ground as he led his friends from the +camp that morning; for suddenly, as the surface ceased to shelve and +became almost level, he changed his direction. Nor did he join the +wide track which presently crossed before him; he merely grunted and +pointed. + +"Half-breeds come along there," he said. "Go different way ourselves." + +Joe looked closely at the trace they were crossing. There were the +marks of the runners of two sleighs cutting through tracks evidently +left by the dog teams, and on either hand, and mixed up with the former +marks, were the impressions of many snowshoes. + +"But--" he began, "if this is their line, and they followed us from the +camp, as seems more than likely, why not take the same line back? They +are sure to have come the quickest way." + +"You bet; they jest followed our trace, and guess we came direct," said +Hank. "Only you can't see our marks, as they've trod all over 'em. +But you leave this here matter to Beaver Jack. He aer a cunnin' boy, +and 'way back at the end of his head he's got an idea that'll knock +fits out of them 'ere critters. I've half guessed at it already; +you'll see. Seems to me we shall almost fly the last half of the +distance." + +"Eh?" Joe stared at the little hunter. He was quite willing to be +led, and had implicit faith in his companions, but he was one of those +inquisitive fellows who like to know the why and wherefore of +everything. "But--fly!" he exclaimed. + +"Ay--fly!" grinned Hank; "jest go along quicker nor a sleigh could take +us. Ain't that it, Jack?" + +Beaver Jack could enjoy a joke with anyone, only he enjoyed it in a +manner peculiarly his own, or, one might more correctly say, in a +manner characteristic of his people. His eyes were twinkling as he +faced about, while his hooked nose and upturned chin seemed to have +approached even nearer. + +"It is well that the young men should know what is happening," he said. +"They look to their elders for instruction, and in asking thus Joe +shows that he is interested. It will also tell him the need there is +always to watch the country he passes through. Listen: the land beyond +falls very steeply. Leaving the camp, we passed to the right, so as to +gain a track which was easy. To climb is hard; to descend is a +different matter." + +It was not all said in that fashion, for Beaver Jack's English was not +of an advanced order. But a man of intelligence could understand him +with ease, and, hearing what he had to say, Joe quickly realized what +was about to happen. Also he remembered that the ground did rise +immediately in front of their camp, and at such an angle that to climb +it would have been almost impossible; but to descend would be easy. + +"Easy as fallin' off a house," grunted Hank. "Jest sit down on your +snowshoes and slide; sleighing won't be in it." + +Speeding along now across a field of virgin snow through which an +occasional tree cropped, the party were not long in gaining a belt of +forest trees clinging to the hillside. Passing through these, they +again emerged on to a space which was open, and over which the white +winter mantle was spread, without so much as a footmark to mar its +beauty. But the field seemed to end abruptly on that edge farthest +from the summit of the hills, and striking out for the white line where +sky and snow seemed to merge, the trio soon found themselves on the +verge of a steep and smooth declivity. From it a splendid view was to +be obtained, for the rays from the declining sun lit up a gorgeous +landscape, swept with white from end to end, dotted here and there with +darker patches, showing long shadows where the hollows lay, while +patches of trees of larger and smaller extent cropped up everywhere. +There was their camp, too, nestling at the foot of a clump of pines, +while at its back was one huge expanse of white, unbroken, unmarked, +bearing not even a shadow. + +"A lake, and a big 'un, too," observed Hank. "Ef we'd looked that way +this morning once we got on to the hill we might have seen it. But we +was in the trees most of the time, and I expect that folds in the +ground kept us elsewhere. Now fer a slide. Slip yer gun from yer +shoulder and use it as a guiding stick. Yer see, it's mighty steep +here, and though, ef you rolled from top to bottom, it wouldn't do no +great harm--for there's drifts that would catch you--still it's nicer +and better to go face forward. So put the butt in on one side and a +little behind, and guide and brake with it." + +That was a glorious ride down the hill. It carried Joe back to days, +now so far off they seemed, when there had been a heavy fall of snow in +England, and he, with friends in the little town, had rigged up a +toboggan and had carried it to the hills. The speed then had been +great; it was terrific here. However, there was no time for pausing; +besides, the Redskin made nothing of it. This form of progress seemed +to him to be much the same as any other. Without a word, with hardly a +look at his comrades, he strode to the very edge, sat down on his +snowshoes, and, thrusting the butt of his gun into the snow, pushed +himself over the brink. He went whirling down before a mighty cloud of +snowflakes kicked up by his shoes, and left behind him a track which a +man standing in the valley below could have seen from a great distance. +Once he swerved, and looked as if he were about to turn over; but the +guiding gun held him straight, and in an extraordinary short space of +time he was waiting for them at the bottom. + +"Wall," grinned Hank, "you or me? Ef there was a chance of them +critters coming along I'd say you." + +"And I'd say you," laughed Joe. "I'd feel that I had to stay to +protect you." + +"Gee! Ef that don't beat the hull band," gasped Hank. "Protect me, +you said! As ef I war a baby. Now, see here, lad; we'll make a race +of it. You're heavier nor me, and so will have an advantage. At the +same time, I'm that light I'll slide over the snow easier. We'll see +who makes the quickest job of it." + +"Agreed!" cried Joe. "Ready?" + +"Ready it aer." + +"Then off!" + +They thrust themselves over the edge and went whirling down, huge +clouds of snow spurting to either side of their snowshoes. Nor did Joe +find the task one of the easiest. He swerved, and with a dig of his +gun recovered his position. But the movement sent him twirling the +opposite way. He made a desperate effort, and wrenched his body round +again till he faced downhill; then, just as is the case with skis, +something seemed to go wrong with his snowshoes. They displayed an +unaccountable and all-powerful tendency to separate. No amount of +effort would draw them together. The result was speedy disaster. Joe +rose a little, struggling to regain equilibrium, but a curious thing +happened. The very raising of his body proved fatal; for suddenly the +shoes stuck fast, the toes entering the surface in spite of the steep +slope. Thus arrested, our hero pitched forward on to his head, doubled +up into a beautiful and most elegant circle, and went speeding down the +hill like a ball, this time at an infinitely quicker rate. His antics, +too, from that moment forward were more than funny, for he straightened +himself out, with arms and legs widespread. + +"I'll have the breath knocked clean out of my body if I don't come to a +stop soon," he thought. "Ah! That does it; that's better!" + +However, the relief was for the moment only. The pace lessened; he +began to think that presently he would find a resting-place from which +he might once more put himself in position for the remainder of the +descent. But alas! he was to be disappointed. Shooting into a deep +drift, he found himself buried beneath the snow, and expected to stay +there. But the force of his descent carried all before it. His body +broke through the mass of snow, and once more he was hurtling downward, +falling this way and that, sliding, rolling head first sometimes, and +at others the reverse. At last, however, he was able to arrest the +rapid and exciting movement. + +"Gee!" he cried. "That was a doer! Where's my gun? And one shoe gone +also." + +It happened that the lost articles had more or less kept him company. +The gun, in fact, lay within a few feet of him, while as he turned +there was the lost snowshoe descending in a dignified manner towards +him. He snatched at it, donned it in haste, and once more prepared for +the rest of the journey. + +"Better luck, I hope," he said. "Ain't Hank grinning! The little +beggar made a clean run right to the bottom." + +On this second occasion Joe was more fortunate. He sat his shoes like +a practised hand, and went hurtling down to within a few feet of his +waiting comrades. + +"You've come at last," grinned Hank, as Joe picked himself up and rose +to an erect position. "Warn't it fair flyin'? Seemed to me as ef you +was spreading your wings because you wasn't quite satisfied. But you +ain't hurt, lad?" + +"Not a bit; rather enjoyed it," sang out our hero. + +"And ain't too much shook up? That sorter things kicks the breath +outer a body." + +"As fit as ever," grinned Joe, "and ready to continue. Where's the +camp?" + +"You're at the front door, as you might almost say," smiled the little +hunter. "There it aer." + +There it was indeed, almost nestling at the foot of the hill, and in +any case within a few hundred yards. It took the little party but a +few minutes to reach it. + +"Will they have taken all or not?" asked Hank somewhat anxiously, as +they came up to the place. "Ef so, it aer a bad lookout; ef not, why, +things is beginning to move in our favour." + +A deep-toned exclamation came from the Redskin, while his hawk-like +face took on for one brief instant an appearance of sublime content. + +"That's settled the matter," cried Hank. "You kin see as it aer all +right, fer Beaver Jack stood to lose the hull of his pelts and the +winter's work, which for him would be serious. He's seen that things +aer all right." + +"No take the pelts and the sleigh as they easy able to come back when +they killed us," said Beaver Jack, his eyes twinkling. + +"And so we'll take 'em," cried Hank. "But where? That do tease me +more'n a trifle. Jest about here we ain't no better off than we was +back up the hill, and men lyin' on the ridge above us could flick +bullets into our camp every time. I ain't bad at some sorter +conundrums, but here guess I've come to an end. Joe, boy, you are the +youngest and brightest; what do we do?" + +"Pack up at once, put all our things on Beaver Jack's sleigh, and make +clear across the lake to that island," said our hero, promptly pointing +across the smooth expanse of snow to where, nestling in the centre +almost, was a prominence above which hung the heavily-weighted branches +of a group of evergreens. "That'll be a fine castle," he said. "We've +now grub with us, besides pots and pans; there'll be firewood yonder, +and with that we'll be able to make ourselves comfortable. I'm for +making for that island." + +Hank gave a little exclamation, and struck himself violently on the +chest as if in punishment for not having thought of the same movement, +while the Redskin went to his sleigh, on which his store of pelts was +still bound, and taking up the tow rope began to move away from the +camp. + +"It aer jest the very thing for us," observed Hank, with eagerness. "I +war a thickhead too never to have thought of it. But lend a hand, Joe, +and let's get the traps fixed and packed. Them critters ain't likely +to be long now in coming." + +Very rapidly but carefully they packed all their goods on Beaver Jack's +sleigh, then, led by the Redskin, they stepped upon the snow-covered +surface of the lake. And as they pushed their way across it the shouts +of the enemy came to their ear, while presently they could be seen +descending the hillside. + +"They've seed what we're up to, and guess as they can't reach us afore +we're at the island," said Hank. "So now they'll go back to collect +their sleighs and dog teams. That'll give us time to breathe. We'll +make our lean-to right off, and get a kettle of water boiling. A brew +of hot tea won't come amiss after all this business." + +They found, in fact, that cups of boiling hot tea, sweetened with some +of the store of maple sugar which they had brought with them, was most +reviving. It sent the blood surging through their bodies, and, had +their courage been somewhat lacking, would even have restored that. +But Joe and his friends had a deal of fight left in them yet. They +hoped still to preserve their lives, and show these half-breeds who had +so outrageously attacked them that matters were not all in their favour. + +"We aer boxed in, more or less," said Hank, surveying his surroundings; +"but they ain't much better off. The moment one o' the critters steps +off on to the lake, we sees him. There'll be a moon to-night, and for +a week almost, so night won't make much difference to it. Joe, I begin +to think as this here island aer going to be the saving of us." + +Whether or no that was to be the case had yet to be seen. It was +fairly evident that the gallant little trio had a strenuous and +exciting time before them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded + +Nowhere else in the vast territories of the Dominion of Canada could +Joe and his two comrades have come upon a spot more suited to their +purpose than was the tiny island which cropped out almost in the centre +of the frozen and snow-covered surface of the vast lake they had +encountered during their prospecting tour in New Ontario. + +"It aer a fair treat," observed Hank, rubbing his half-frozen hands +together, with a gusto there was no mistaking. "I allow that when we +made back to our camp this afternoon things was looking uncommonly +black, and ef we had found that all our traps had been taken or burned +by them half-breeds, why, in course we should ha' been up a gum tree, +as Australians is fond of saying. How do I know they're fond o' sayin' +that, young feller?" he asked, with an appearance of severity he was +far from feeling; for Joe had laughingly asked the question. "Jest fer +this reason: there's Australians comes to Canada--not 'cos they don't +like their own country, for I never heard of one as didn't swear by +Australia; but, you see, things don't move quite as fast out there as +they do here. This Dominion aer the place for settlers above all +others for two good reasons. First, and it's a big 'un--the distance +from the old country is so short, which makes the passage easy and +cheap; and second, this here Government aer on the move all the time, +more even than that over in Australia. Yer see, they've got the masses +pouring in, and huge preparations has to be made. But we was talking +of this island." + +"Yes," agreed Joe, who long since had made a tour of the place. Not +that that was a journey of vast extent or of difficulty, for the little +heap of rock which cropped from the bed of the lake in such picturesque +fashion was barely big enough to house three dozen men. That number +would be uncomfortably squeezed together, as a matter of fact, and some +would be pressed from the edge. Then, again, its outer edge was raised +for all the world like the rim of a saucer, while the centre was +depressed into a number of irregular hollows. "A fine place," admitted +Joe warmly. "Shouldn't wonder if in summertime there is fresh water in +these hollows. In any case, though, that wouldn't matter, for there is +abundance of water in the lake. Seems to me we shall be able to make a +fort here that will bother those people." + +"What'd you do?" asked Hank, eager to discover the plans that Joe might +have made. "Here you are with a couple of young fellers, me and Beaver +Jack, to look after, and it aer up to you to protect us and lead us. +What'll you do? No laughing matter, young feller--I'm serious." + +It was hard to believe that, for never did hunter wear a more jovial +expression. To be precise, that exhilarating flight from before the +enemy, the discovery of their camp equipment undamaged, and then the +gaining of this unique position had lifted the spirits of all three of +the party wonderfully. + +"It aer a regular nest, this aer," grinned Hank. "Wall? What do you +make of it? Them critters is away over there talking things over, you +kin guess. Havin' a bit of a pow-wow, as the sayin' is. They've seed +us come away here, in course, for even now that the dusk are falling +you kin follow the track we've left across the snow. It aer up to you, +Joe, to fix a plan that'll save the lives of your two comrades." + +There was a twinkle in the little man's eyes, and, looking at him, one +would have said that he didn't care the toss of a button for the enemy, +though, like a sensible and cautious man, he would neglect nothing +which would give him an advantage over them. + +"I'd raise this edge all round, first of all," said Joe, "and I'd make +dummies to draw their bullets. We ourselves don't want to be perched +high up, unless during the night, for when it's daytime one can see +across the bare surface outside for a great distance; then I'd make +openings close to the rock through which we could fire. It seems to me +that by doing so we shall bother them, and make it difficult for them +to pick us off as they advance." + +"And how'd you raise the edge?" asked Hank, with interest. "Pile up +snow? That takes time." + +"I'd cut bricks of snow," was Joe's answer; "then, when they were built +into position, I'd break the ice, if that's possible, and throw water +on the outside face of the wall we've constructed. Talk about +armour-plate on a ship! That'll convert our fort into a regular +dreadnought." + +Hank turned on an expansive grin for our hero's special edification, +while even the austere Redskin smiled. "And these here snow bricks," +said Hank, "you'd take 'em from where?" + +"Just outside the island. That would leave a kind of trench all round, +and so give the enemy a greater height to climb, supposing they got to +close quarters." + +"Which aer likely enough, seeing as they're so many, and kin scatter so +as to make shooting extry difficult. Shucks, lad! Guess you've put +the case nicely. To make good out here we've got to have protection +more than rifles kin give us. We'll build that wall; seems to me it +aer the first thing that's wanted." + +Perhaps half an hour or more had passed since they reached the spot +where they were now awaiting the enemy, and during that time the busy +Indian had constructed a comfortable lean-to, while, as has been +narrated, Joe had built a fire and boiled the kettle. There being no +sign yet of the half-breeds, the whole party sat down about the fire to +discuss Joe's suggestions, while that young fellow himself delved in +one of the bags they always carried with them, brought to light a chunk +of frozen meat which, in that condition, would have required a +good-sized axe to cut, and placed it over the flames. Ten minutes +later, when the frost was driven from it, he cut a number of slices, +thrust his cleaning rod through them, and poised the rod upon a couple +of forked sticks above the fire. As for the remainder of the piece of +flesh, it was quickly frozen solid; for by this time the moon was up +and the cold was intense. + +"It aer nice to have a fire, and a hollow to sit in," admitted Hank, +who, as a rule, seemed to be absolutely unaffected by extremes of +temperature. Joe had, in fact, seen the little man cool and collected, +and not inconvenienced in the slightest, even when working on the +hottest day, with a swarm of mosquitoes about him; while the icy breath +of this winter had passed unnoticed. "We aer in fer a cold time," said +the little hunter, staring into the embers, "and seems to me that that +'ere wall aer wanted fer another reason besides fer keeping them skunks +out. It'll make us as warm inside here as ef we was tucked in our +blankets on the cosiest feather bed you ever thought of." + +"While these men outside will freeze," added Joe. + +"Not they!" came the instant answer. "Them critters is used to life up +here. Wouldn't wonder ef they was 'way up by James Bay most winter +times, and there the cold aer wuss perhaps. They've enlarged our +shelter already, and likely as not they've built a fire right inside. +As soon as they've had a meal they'll turn right in, and the dogs along +with 'em. That'll send up the warmth and keep an Arctic cold out. But +it's ten chances to one as they'll try to rush us before the morning. +Now ef them steaks is done we'll tackle them, and then get to at +building." + +There was a delightful odour of cooking about the little island, the +overhanging branches of the evergreen pines seeming to hem it in. +Joe's mouth was watering before he declared that the meal was ready, +and then, having handed a slice to each of his friends, together with a +species of damper cake made from flour and water toasted on the embers, +he fell upon the food himself with a gusto that told how fear had no +place with him. A pipe completed Hank's contentment, then, the moon +being now full up, and the enemy out of sight, the trio set to work to +erect the walls of their fortification. With their long-bladed knives +they cut oblong chunks of frozen snow with the same ease as one would +cut butter, and then, leaving Joe alone to do the building, sent block +after block of the material sliding to the position he had taken. + +"We'll get along quicker like that," said Hank. "It don't take more'n +a couple of seconds to lift a block into place, while it takes five +perhaps to cut one. So ef one builds, t'others'll be able to keep him +supplied." + +It was really remarkable how rapidly the wall rose. In an hour there +was a complete circle all round the rim of the island, which, being +naturally raised, gave greater height to the artificial wall. The +second row of blocks was soon added, Joe leaving spaces here and there +through which a rifle could be fired. The third and fourth and others +swiftly followed, and when four hours had gone the task was completed. +Then Hank attacked the ice with an axe which he always carried, and, +having cut through a foot and more, came upon water. A tin pot +constantly replenished supplied a means whereby the outer face of the +wall was drenched, and so fierce was the cold that the liquid congealed +almost as soon as it had fallen on the surface at which it was +projected. + +"We kin make our dummies any time now," said Hank. "Two of 'em'll be +enough, and the one who's going to take the first watch'll find they +will help to pass the time in making. It's nigh midnight now; I'll +take a spell. Joe'll relieve when three hours have gone, and Beaver +Jack later. Let's get to and make the most of the time before us." + +In a short time silence fell upon this little isolated camp. Down in +the depths of the lowest hollow, huddled in their blankets, and as warm +as toast, lay Joe and the Redskin, packed close together; for an Arctic +winter needs to be treated with consideration. No warmth that can be +retained can be allowed to escape, and as two bodies huddled close +together generate a temperature which is greater than that generated by +one, it follows that campers sleep pressed close together. We have +seen the plan put into operation elsewhere. On the high veldt in South +Africa, when nightly frosts are keen, and when tents and proper +covering are not obtainable, your campaigners soon lose all feelings of +foolish pride. Officers divide into couples and bed down beneath the +combined allowance of blankets, while we have seen as many as four of +the rank and file snug beneath their covering, snoring blissfully, +grateful for the warmth of their comrades. + +Perched above this tranquil camp, his keen eyes surveying the +surroundings with as much ease as a watchman can keep guard from a +tower built for that special purpose, Hank looked out across the +surface of the lake to the shore where the enemy was lying. His pipe +was clenched between his teeth, his hands sunk deep into his pockets, +while he himself was immovable. But every now and again the glow in +the bowl of his pipe brightened, showing that he was drawing on the +weed, while a puff of smoke issued from his lips. + +"The critters!" was a favourite exclamation with him; "Them skunks!" +another; "Ef I only knew what they was after," an oft-repeated sentence. + +"Yer see," Hank was saying to himself, "there don't seem to be any +reason in all this business; but there's something behind it all that +we can't even guess at. Somehow I can't help thinkin' that this here +Joe ha' an importance in the matter." + +What would the little hunter have given to be able to peer into the +camp of the enemy at that particular moment? He could see the glare of +a huge fire, and could imagine men and dogs sleeping together under a +shelter. But Hank was an exceedingly practical fellow, not one gifted +with an unusual stock of imagination. He could not, therefore, guess +that the number of the enemy was divided, that there was one who was a +leader. And yet that was the case. Half-breeds formed the backbone of +the party--half-breeds of the lowest character, idle vagabonds to be +found round and about the forts in the north of Canada. Not, let us +say at once, that all half-breeds are idle and worthless; by no means +is that the case. There are, of course, black sheep in every flock, +and here a number were gathered together, and at that moment huddled +fast asleep in the shelter of the lean-to which Joe and his friends had +erected. Some ten paces away a second shelter had been constructed, of +rather ample proportions, while a fire blazed at the entrance, warming +the interior. One side of this structure was filled by a sleigh, which +had been put there for a special purpose, the blankets lying upon it +showing that it was meant to serve as a couch. On this same sleigh sat +a man, a bulky fellow, muffled in furs, bearded, and almost +unrecognizable because of the skin cap drawn down over his ears. He +leaned over a wooden box which did duty for a table, and at the precise +moment when Hank was pulling at his pipe and wondering who these +enemies might be, the leader of the band of rascals had his thoughts +attracted to one at least of Hank's little party. A long envelope lay +beside him, while a document was spread out on the improvised table. +As for illumination, some was supplied by the fire, some by the clear +moon overhead, and most by a torch of birch bark, the resinous material +in which caused it to splutter and burn brilliantly. + +Let us take a look at this individual and, lifting his cap, endeavour +to recognize him. But time brings changes in all directions, and puts +its stamp on the majority of faces. Anxiety may hasten this inevitable +change, while ill health, worry, an ill-conditioned mind, grasping and +avarice are all capable of imprinting their own particular marks on the +features. In the case of the individual in question, a brutal mind was +displayed by a face that had never been handsome, and was now heavily +seamed and lined, boasting overhung brows, and a mouth which was set in +something approaching a permanent snarl. It was a face which had +changed vastly in the past few months. For this was Hurley, this was +the criminal who had so nearly killed our hero after committing murder, +and who had made his escape into the forest, bearing Joe's riches and +that all-important envelope with him. We have learned how the man was +captured, and how he made good his escape again. We recollect that Joe +had recovered his dollars, but that the envelope was still missing. +Missing? No. It was there on that improvised table. Right away in +the wilds of Canada, in the depths of an Arctic winter, it had come to +view again, though now the seal was broken. + +"To my son, Joe Bradley," the ruffian leaning over the box read aloud, +as if he had an audience, picking up the envelope and holding it +closer. "The contents of this letter will explain to you many things +which I have never cared to refer to; but I beg of you never to open it +till you are in direst need or have earned the right to do so. Make +your way in the world, gather riches--then you can open and read." + +Hurley sneered at the words. He threw the envelope down with a gesture +of impatience. "Of course the fool obeyed," he growled; "waited till +he'd come out to Canada--in fact, till it was too late. And think what +he was losing. It makes me fair chuckle. There was a home ready-made +for him in England; there was gold to fill his pockets and keep 'em +filled; and there was servants all round about, so that he needn't have +done a hand's turn. Instead the young fool comes out to Canada and +slaves on a farm. Well, some people are born idiots!" + +Evidently with the reassuring reflection that he, Hurley, was no fool, +the rascal turned to the contemplation of the document. He spread it +out smoothly, leaned his elbows on either side, and perhaps for the +hundredth time read the story enclosed, a tale, let it be remembered, +meant only for the eyes of our hero; for therein set down, by the hand +of a man now dead, was a history of importance. Hurley gloated over +the contents of this document, weighing every word within it; then he +sat back on the sleigh and gave himself up to dreaming. His savage, +careworn face took on something approaching a pleasant expression, for +Hurley's were pleasant dreams. In them he imagined himself entirely +successful. He built castles for himself in the frosty air of the +lean-to, forgetful that the best of schemes here and there come to a +sudden and disappointing ending. + +"It can be done," he said aloud; "there is nothing to prevent me, for I +have considered the plan from every side. I kill the boy; that is the +first move. I take copies of the certificate of death when I leave the +country, and when I reach Great Britain I am Bradley--Mr. Bradley, +senior. Ha!" + +A grin of triumph overspread his features, while he pushed his cap back +as if the very thought of success made him hot. Looking at Hurley at +that moment, one realized that he was one of Canada's bad bargains and +an unscrupulous ruffian. As for the tale which he had gathered from +the document which had been stolen from our hero, we will not set it +down in full, as had been done by Joe's father. Suffice it to say that +the narrative was somewhat unusual. It carried the history of two +lives back some fifty years, and told of the birth of Joe's father. +Son of a man of wealth, his mother had died soon after his appearance. +Then a stepmother had appeared upon the scene, while in due time he was +presented with a stepbrother. At that point the tale took on some +particular interest, for by the machinations of his stepmother, Joe's +father had at an early age found himself almost penniless. To be +precise, when six years of age he was banished from the establishment +and sent to live with a schoolmaster at the other end of the country. +Never once did he return home. Sums for his maintenance were +forthcoming, while he drifted unhappily from school to school. He then +found himself placed in an office, and hardly was he self-supporting +when all allowances ceased. In place he gathered the fact that his +stepbrother was now of age and had succeeded to his father's property. + +"Succeeded to every penny of it," declared Hurley aloud, "and this here +natural son done out of it. But he got to learn that he was the next +in succession. He's too hurt with all this kind of treatment, and too +proud to go back to the home. He loses himself in some provincial +town, and don't say anything. But the chap who gets all the goods +don't marry. This Bradley knows that well. Then what does he do? +Writes this here, and sends every proof he's got of his own birth and +suchlike to solicitors in London. He don't see 'em hisself. Not a +bit. He sends the documents, and encloses the receipt which was sent +for them in this letter. This here matter can be worked as easy as +eating." + +The reasoning of this rascal could be followed now with some ease, +while it is merely necessary to mention one more item in Mr. Bradley's +letter to our hero. He related that his stepbrother, realizing the +injustice done to the elder son, had, as the years passed, made efforts +to discover him. He had advertised, and put the matter in the hands of +searchers. + +"In fact, he aer anxious for this here Bradley to turn up, and it aer +clear from the letter that when he does, or his son, there's money and +a comfortable living. An heir's wanted, that's truth, and seein' as +I'm too old to act the son, and am only a trifle younger than this here +Mr. Bradley would ha' been, why, here's the heir. Hurley'll fill the +bill as well as any other." + +There was the diabolical plot in its entirety. That document just went +to show that Joe's father was a man possessed of a proud spirit and of +good ideas, for he laid it down on the outside of the envelope that he +wished his son to earn his place in the world before he opened and read +the contents. He would rather see Joe fighting his own battles than +coddling in luxury and spending the money of an uncle. He preached +independence and energy, and our hero had shown it. It was the fortune +of war, perhaps, that the document had come into the hands of such a +scoundrel, and, reviewing it and all the circumstances together, one +now saw the reason for this extraordinary and unprovoked assault upon +the little party. Hurley had gathered means by some dishonest method; +he had traced Joe's movements; and now he had rounded him up, and with +the rascals he had hired had him almost within the net. + +"To-morrow or next day, don't matter which," he told himself; "but kill +him I will, then away for England." + +For Hurley it was a fascinating conspiracy; for Joe, had he known the +ins and outs of the story, it was likely to prove more than +disconcerting. But forewarned is forearmed, and there is this to be +said for our hero. The first shots had missed him. He was now behind +cover, while two of the stanchest friends were there to protect him. + +"P'raps them critters will have had enough already and will sheer off," +said Hank, still sitting motionless on the top of the snow wall when +the watch he had been keeping came to its end. "Ef not, then it proves +as there's something deep behind all this here business. Hi, Joe! It +aer your turn now, and jest you keep movin'. It's all right fer me as +is an old hand at the game to sit tight and look about me. Young chaps +feels the cold wuss and soon gets sleepy. Move all the time, and take +a fill of 'bacca." + +It was a habit into which Joe had fallen, and with very good reason, +too, seeing the open-air life he was leading and the companions he +associated with; for your Canadian backwoodsman loves his smoke. A +short clay dangles from his teeth on most occasions. Joe therefore +roused himself swiftly from his blanket; and here again was something +more which camping had taught him, namely, to be a light sleeper. Hank +might be said to sleep always with one eye open, for he heard the +slightest movement. Beaver Jack might often enough appear to be sunk +in the deepest slumber, and yet, if one happened to peer into his face, +one discovered that both of those deep-sunk brilliant orbs were +actually twinkling. Our hero, too, would sit up with a jerk on the +smallest occasion, so that Hank's call had brought him to his feet +promptly. And now he watched the little man shake himself like a dog +and toss a blanket about him. Then Joe crammed weed into his pipe +thoughtfully, lifted a glowing ash from the fire, and puffed long +flames into the bowl. With a trail of smoke about his head, he began +to march the round of this strange fortification. + +"Hard as a brick," he told himself, running his hand along the outside +of the snowy wall. "Wouldn't turn a bullet, perhaps, but almost, I +reckon. Ah! there's the fire the enemy are burning. Jolly cheek +they've got to make use of our old camp! Wonder what they're up to? +Planning an attack for the early hours of the morning, if I ain't +mistaken." + +Joe tramped round and round, halting every few minutes to stare about +him, a comprehensive look, in fact, which took in his entire +surroundings. From his perch on the wall he could appreciate the +commanding situation. The countryside seemed to be cut off by that +wide-spreading smooth surface, with its soft covering of white snow, +unbroken in all directions save for the track which he and his friends +had made in gaining the island. The edge of the lake, where the bank +rose from the frozen water, was now so merged with the vast sheet of +ice itself, that even from the island, the best point of vantage for +observation, one could not say where ice ended and solid earth began. +Over all the wintry moon threw its own particular magnificence, bathing +the scene in brilliant rays which accentuated the pure whiteness of +everything. + +"Ripping!" Joe exclaimed. "Just fancy if we had such scenes in +England! And people grumble at a Canadian winter. I dare say there +are lots of reasons for wishing the weather were milder, for a winter +such as this is stops a heap of work. You can't sow or plough or +harrow. You can't build even a simple shack such as is wanted on the +farms. You can't ride a horse, as a general rule, while there isn't +feed for cattle. But it's glorious for all that. Give me a bright, +sunny winter's day in the Dominion." + +"You aer sure as there ain't no movement?" asked Hank, suddenly sitting +up. "Seemed to me as ef I heard a sound." + +"A dog yelped yonder," answered Joe, who was alert and taking notice of +everything. + +"A dog?" + +"Yes; there's the sound again. I think, too, that it was a different +animal." + +"Then it aer a case of all hands on deck," whispered the little +trapper, become suddenly cautious. "Ef dogs is barking, it stands to +reason that they has been disturbed. As a general rule, they'll sleep +a night like this through without moving; so, young feller, you kin +look to see them critters afore very long. I'll rouse Beaver Jack and +then get a kettle o' tea boiling. What's the hour, lad?" + +"Five o'clock or thereabouts. Ah! there's another dog, and----" + +"You kin see them skunks?" asked the little hunter. + +"No--yes! Two sleighs have just shot out from behind the trees where +we were camping last night, but I can't make out how many men are +aboard them.' + +"Wall? Aer they heading straight along here?" came the request in a +few moments, while Hank stirred the fire, and, thrusting handfuls of +snow into the wide-mouthed kettle, put the latter upon its hook above +the flames. + +"No; they've run on to the lake surface, and are making a tour round. +It appears to me as if they were hunting for an opening." + +There came a gurgle of amusement from the little hunter. He presented +a grinning face to our hero, and then climbed up beside him. + +"That 'ere wall fair bothers 'em," he laughed. "Guess when you look at +this island from 'way outside, there's jest a smooth white surface +without so much as a break. Now, where aer them critters? Ah! over +there, going along easy. I make it that there's two men aboard each +sleigh, and that this here's merely a kind of scouting. Keep well +down, me lad. We ain't goin' to help them by even a little." + +In ghostly silence the two sleighs circled round the island. They kept +at a respectful distance, then dividing, ran in opposite directions. +After some ten minutes had passed they met again, and, swerving so as +to take the same path, went off in the direction of the camp which the +enemy were occupying. It was perhaps half an hour later, when the +little garrison had fortified themselves with a steaming cup of tea, +and pipes were comfortably going, that Joe again gave a warning. + +"Coming in full force," he said. "There's four men at least on each of +the sleighs. They're making directly for the island." + +It was a true report, for when Hank and Beaver Jack joined Joe, there +were the two sleighs, their teams spread out in front, tearing along +towards the island, while each one of the rascals on the sleighs bent +down, hoping thereby to decrease the wind resistance. + +"I could plump a shot clear into 'em now," observed Hank, nursing his +rifle. "But guess it's better to give 'em what they've been axing for +from the beginning. Ef we're goin' to get out of this bother with our +scalps, as you might say, we aer got to read them critters a bad +lesson. Shootin' at them from a distance won't do it. We've got to +run the chance of 'em getting at us, and wait till they're at close +quarters." + +So they watched the two crews advance, till a sudden shout caused the +drivers to draw rein. Then eight figures leaped from the sleighs and, +dividing at once, came racing forward. + +Joe and his friends watched them quietly and with determination. +Ignorant of the cause of the attack, they were naturally incensed, +while such a thing as surrender had not occurred to them. But a +looker-on must have had serious doubts as to their success; indeed, it +may be said that their danger was great and pressing. As for the +scheme which the ruffian Hurley had originated, his chances of ridding +himself of a rival may truthfully be described as rosy. With Joe +Bradley slain in this outlandish situation, there seemed little +difficulty in carrying out the remainder of a disgraceful and cowardly +conspiracy. Hurley would present himself in England. He would demand +those documents and proof of origin. A fine fortune and position +seemed to be awaiting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +On the Defensive + +A strange silence had fallen upon attackers and attacked, once the +former had leaped from their sleighs and had begun to race across the +snow-covered surface of the lake. Not a sound broke from them, though +now and then there was a whimper from one of the dogs in the teams +attached to the sleighs; and neither Hank nor Joe or Beaver Jack so +much as uttered a syllable. Perhaps if they had leaped to the summit +of the wall they had built, and had shouted and thrown threats at the +enemy, it would have had the effect of spurring the latter on; for +opposition in any shape or form is apt to stimulate men to courage and +exertion, but silence depresses. The attackers seemed to lose heart +rapidly; then, as one stopped doubtfully, his comrades slowly copied +his example. Thereupon a burly figure turned upon them angrily. + +"Forward!" he shouted almost incoherently. "Why stop here? The fools +can kill you now as easily as they could if you were closer. Forward!" + +"Give 'em a sight of the dummies we've rigged up," whispered Hank at +once. "Jest show the tops o' their heads over the wall; I'll lie here +and give 'em a shot ef they want to come closer." + +He spread himself face downward on the snow and pushed his rifle +through one of the apertures which Joe had left. Meanwhile our hero +and the Redskin each took one of the dummies which the cunning little +trapper had manufactured during his hours of watching, and slowly +raised that part which was supposed to be the head over the summit of +the wall. Crouching as low as possible themselves, they moved the +dummies slowly to and fro; for they were some three yards from one +another. At once there came a loud shout from the open, and, staring +out through the aperture, Hank saw the same burly figure which he had +observed before dashing to and fro haranguing his following; but move +them he could not. + +[Illustration: A DEFENCE AGAINST ODDS] + +"What? You won't come on?" the three defenders heard him bellow. +"Never did I meet such cowards! Look at the men we've come for. Fire!" + +They could do that even if they would not advance, and in a twinkling +the seven half-breeds had thrown themselves into all sorts of +attitudes, and were busy with their weapons. There came an irregular +volley, while the narrow, elongated bullet of the modern weapon, the +larger, squat missile of the rifle somewhat out of date, and even the +huge round leaden ball discharged by a smoothbore came hurtling about +the fort. Joe heard again the zip-zip of rapidly-travelling bodies +cutting their way through a maze of branches, he felt the hail of +debris as it fell, while within a foot or more of his head he listened +to the dull thud of a bullet striking the hard-frozen wall, and heard +the queer ripping sound it made as it forced a way through and sped on +across the fort to the far wall. Then there was a pause, during which +there was deathly silence. + +"I ain't in no hurry to fire," said Hank, in low tones, grinning up at +his companions, "and I'll tell you for why. Shouts and firing and +sichlike would make them critters come on; silence gives 'em the hump. +In any case, they ain't bustin' with pluck, and never did I see men +show less dash when attackin'. Say, Joe, ain't I heard that voice +before? Seems as ef I ought to know it." + +Before he could receive an answer, the burly man was again addressing +his men, strutting up and down before them; for though his orders had +been that they should divide and approach the island from every point +of the compass, the half-breeds lacking courage had held together, as +if the companionship of their fellows helped to hearten them. + +"Forward!" Joe heard the command given. "You can see where they are +now. They've rigged up a wall, and any one of us can hop over it in a +twinkling. Now, all together!" + +But his orders went unheeded. Instead, a second volley spluttered down +the irregular line, while once again a variety of shots swept against +the fort. Joe could see Beaver Jack's penetrating eyes twinkling. He +even fancied there was a smile on those lips which were always so +impassive. In any case, the Redskin pointed overhead to the dummy he +held and nodded. + +"Fine shooting," he murmured. "Send bullet right through the head; +glad Beaver Jack not up there." + +Then Hank repeated his question. + +"Queer, ain't it, Joe? I'd swear I'd met that chap before. But----" + +"I believe--" began our hero doubtfully, "but it can't be." + +"Can't be? There's nothing that can't be 'way out here after what's +happened. I tell you, man and boy I've tracked the backwoods, and +never once have I been set on like this. I've heard o' ructions, in +course, but always near the forts and stations, or in the settlements. +But right out in the wilds like this--never! I'll eat my boots ef +these here critters ain't been set on us. Seems to me that ef we could +get a hold on that big chap as seems to lead 'em, and could make him +talk, there's a heap he could tell us. Who is he, anyway?" + +"Hurley!" exclaimed Joe. + +"Eh? What? Hurley? That durned murderer! Shucks, lad, that's too +tall for anything!" + +"I'm dead sure. Hurley's tall; Hurley's a big man; Hurley's voice is +the same as that." + +"But--" interrupted Hank hoarsely, keeping his eyes all the while on +the enemy, "but, grant you the voice is the same--now that you've said +it, I 'low that that aer Hurley's voice--he'd be mad to follow like +this. There's a string always round his neck, and he ain't likely to +come close to the men who know it. It ain't reasonable. Why, we could +hang the scoundrel any day we set hands on him!" + +"True enough," agreed Joe, "but--wait, they're moving. That rascal is +getting them to their feet; we'd better be ready for trouble." + +Joe had managed to squat down close to one of the openings, and as he +conversed with Hank had wriggled himself into a position which enabled +him to look out. Everything outside on the moonlit snow was visible. +Indeed, the white background showed up every detail, though, as it +happened that the enemy had their backs to the moon, their features +were indistinguishable. But features are of no account when bullets +are flying, or when an attack is about to be launched. The enemy had +gathered into a bunch, in spite of the shouts of their leader, and now, +fortified by even closer companionship, and goaded by the burly brute +who stood at their head, they poured in another volley, then, trailing +their weapons, dashed toward the fort. Joe jerked his dummy on to the +top of the wall and left it there; then his hand sought for his rifle, +and in a trice he had the muzzle grinning at the enemy. He jerked back +the bolt--for he always kept the weapon at safety--took a rapid aim at +one of the charging figures, and pulled the trigger. To his amazement, +the man at whom he aimed doubled up into a neat round ball and, +tumbling on the snow, rolled rapidly forward. But it was not for long. +He straightened himself suddenly, stood erect, and then threw his arms +overhead. A penetrating shriek came from him, and a moment later he +bounded into the air and fell face downward. Hank's rifle spat forth a +bullet in the interval and sent a second man rocking from side to side. +Long before Beaver Jack could get to one of the apertures, or Hank push +in a fresh cartridge, the enemy were in wild retreat, separating widely +and racing away as fast as their snowshoes would take them. As for +Joe, numbed fingers do not readily operate the bolt of even a modern +weapon, while, for the same reason, cartridges are hard to grip; so +that he had not even reloaded. But numbed fingers were not the only +reason for such delay; he was watching the man at whom he had fired. A +feeling of elation possessed him for one brief second as the rascal +doubled up and rolled forward, and then one of terror, of keen remorse. + +"I--I killed him," he cried, a waver in his voice. + +Hank looked up quickly, his lips moving. + +"Eh?" he asked shortly. + +"I killed him," declared Joe again, almost plaintively. + +"Ah, so you did, young 'un, and a mighty fine shot it war. But you +ain't going to tell me that you're sorry? In course in a way one is +sorry when one wipes a critter out, but----" + +"It's awful!" groaned Joe, huge depression upon him. + +Hank scrambled to his feet, dragged our hero to his, and took him away +from the wall where the moon's rays fell brightly upon both of them. + +"See here," he cried angrily, though those who knew the little man best +would have declared that his anger was artificial, "see here, young +feller; am I less valuable to you than that 'ere cuss? Eh? You ain't +got an answer. You don't seem to reckon that ef you wasn't to shoot, +the critter would come right in and kill me or you. Ef it's like that, +and you value him higher, why, I'm for moving." + +Very slowly he began to clamber on to the top of the wall. He dropped +his legs over to the far side, and seemed to be in the act of departing +from the fort. Then Joe came to his senses; he caught the little +trapper by the fringed sleeve and dragged him back. Indeed, using his +strength and height, he gripped the little man and lifted him bodily. +He was smiling when Hank at length broke free. + +"It's over," he said; "I'm sorry." + +"No harm done, lad," came the hearty answer. "No one was ever the wuss +for havin' a soft heart. But this here aer war, war to the knife, and, +what's more, that aer Hurley. Would a skunk same as him leave us alive +ef the call was with him? Huh!" + +That was the most expressive sound he could make. It betokened the +utmost scorn; it showed Hank when most emphatic. + +"It aer Hurley, fer sure," he declared. "But why? Aer he mad?" + +"Not mad, but hoping to make something out of us or out of me," said +Joe. "At least that is the idea I have, though it seems to be stupid, +and there is no apparent reason for my saying so. But what does it +matter what the cause of the attack may be? It's Hurley." + +"Dead sartin--the skunk!" growled Hank. + +"And he means business." + +"He aer goin' to wipe the hull lot of us out ef he's able. But he aer +come up agin a crowd that's got its dander up, so I tells him. He aer +yet to larn what backwoods chaps and others kin do. Next time I makes +a particular point o' puttin' my sights on him, and ef I get the +chance, I'll roll him over. Let's see what they're doing." + +For the next ten minutes the trio sat on the summit of the wall in the +full glare of the moonlight, for there was now no object in +concealment, and watched the enemy. They had retired as far as their +sleighs, and it looked for a little while as if they were about to +mount and drive away. But the burly figure of the rascal who led +them--now admittedly Hurley, the murderer, the escaped +criminal--tramped up and down near them, and though only a faint +whisper of his voice could be heard every now and again, when the wind +bore it in the direction of the island, it was perfectly evident that +he was again using all his persuasive eloquence to induce his followers +to repeat the attack. They saw him swing round more than once and +point towards the fort. They watched as the enemy actually advanced +again; but a shot from Hank surging between them seemed to put their +courage to flight, for they went again to the sledges. Then there was +a different scene. + +"Threatening them," remarked Joe. "Hurley is shaking his fist at us, +and pointing his gun at his own people. I begin to believe that we +shall win out all right. Say, Hank, how many men can go on a sleigh as +a rule?" + +"Depends on the teams, lad. Some'll have only a small team, and then +one man are a load; some'll take four, same as those, and move sharpish +over the snow. Then agin, it depends a heap on the ground. Ef it's +smooth and level, the work aer easy; ef there's a hill, folks has to +dismount; and ef there's a thaw--shucks! you can't get along nohow." + +"But just now, after the 'silver thaw' we've had, the snow is +beautifully hard, and if those beggars went the opposite way, the way +we'd go if we were making back towards the Fennicks, they'd move." + +"Fly," came crisply from the hunter. "It aer a trifle downhill, and +since this keen frost set in, the snow aer hard and smooth. Yes, +they'd fly. But don't you reckon on that; Hurley'll work them +half-breeds up to attack again. They'll wait perhaps till morning, or +till it's darker. It'll be that any time now, and I ain't so certain +that we ain't in for a little snow. It won't be much, anyway, for +there's only a few clouds about; but the wind's got up a little, and +clouds have come into sight that wasn't there when we came to the +island." + +"Ah!" Joe gave vent to the short expression in such a tone of voice +that Hank stared at him. It was just as if he had said "Thanks +awfully; you've just given me the information I wanted." + +"What's that?" demanded the hunter. + +"Nothing," answered Joe briskly. + +"You ain't goin' to flummox me! You was thinkin' something jest then; +you're up to some game and ain't let on yet." + +The little fellow was gifted with wonderful intelligence, and picked up +Joe's unspoken thoughts with the same intuition with which he would +have ferreted out the tracks of an enemy, or guessed at their possible +movements. He shook Joe angrily, staring into his face. + +"What aer it?" he demanded. "This ain't the time for playing games. +But I guess you've something at the back of that head of yours. Now, +I've caught you out---what's the move?" + +Joe told him in a very few words; for he had of a sudden come to the +determination to move against the enemy. + +"I'm going to do a little bit of scouting, Hank," he said. "I'm going +across to their camp to see what's happening. What I want to know is +this: will those dogs they have set up a racket and fly at me?" + +"You bet! In course they will. Only there's snow everywhere now, and +ef you're careful--and I've larned ye to be--then you'd be able to +manage without rousing the critters." + +"And if I took a hunk of meat with me I might manage to quiet them in +any case, eh?" asked our hero. + +"Might, mightn't; can't say. Jest a toss up--what then?" + +"That's telling," smiled Joe. "But you and Beaver Jack be ready. If +you see a sleigh coming along quick, with one man aboard it, put it +down that it's me. I'm going to make a move to get possession of one +of them, and once I have got it, why, we'll make tracks for the +Fennicks." + +The little hunter regarded his pupil in open-mouthed amazement. He +stepped a pace away, held Joe at arm's length, then brought one hand +with a bang down on to his shoulder; only, as this young friend of his +had grown so prodigiously of late, Hank had to stand on tiptoe. + +"Of all the mad ideas that ever was, this is it!" he cried. "But it +aer fine, and I'll say more, it aer the only way to pull us out of this +business, mad though it does appear. Ef you hadn't wanted to go, I'd +have gone. But you suggested, and so you shall make the attempt. And +ef they spot you, jest run for your life out on to the lake. Beaver +Jack and me'll follow you across and build up a bit of a breastwork +close by the shore. That'll give us a sorter place to hold 'em from, +and there you could join us. If you succeed, why, off we goes, in +course; and, now that I thinks of it more, ef you ain't too proud, I'd +like to come with you. Why? I'll tell you. The dogs are bound to be +a bother. You ain't never handled the critters, while I have, many a +time, and dogs, like hosses, soon gets to know when they're dealing +with a green 'un. How's that?" + +"Agreed!" cried Joe, delighted to have a companion. "Ask Jack what he +thinks of the affair." + +Half an hour later there was quite a stir amongst the garrison of the +island, for the enemy had disappeared, having returned downheartened to +their own encampment. Beaver Jack and Joe were bearing along between +them the light sleigh upon which the Redskin's pelts were stacked, and +on which their own traps would find a place. They lifted it to the top +of the wall they had built and, leaping to the outside, lowered it +carefully. Hank then handed down rifles and ammunition, the former of +which they slung over their shoulders. + +"If the wust comes to the wust, we makes back here agin," he said. "It +aer been a proper tight little island; now we kin move. Them clouds +has smothered the moon nicely, and it aer snowing enough to hide a man +at fifty yards. Guess we'll cross, throw up a wall of snow, making a +sorter nest in case we want it, and then get away on to the camp them +half-breeds is occupying." + +He took the end of the tow-rope, while Beaver Jack went immediately +behind him. Joe fell in in rear, and in that order they strode on +across the snow towards the shore which harboured the enemy. They +halted once to listen, for a dog had yelped. But as the sound was not +repeated, they pressed on again, and were soon at the point where ice +and solid earth met beneath the all-pervading mantle of snow. + +"This'll do," said Hank shortly. "Slip off yer snowshoes and rake the +snow up from a central point; that'll leave a deep little hole to +shelter us. See here, Beaver Jack, you keep a bright eye open for us. +Ef we comes bowling along on a sleigh, get a hold of that sleigh rope +of yours, leap aboard us, and make fast. Ef we comes runnin' out, jest +see that you shoot at them critters who'll be follerin' and not at us." + +That was his farewell to the Redskin. He and Joe helped to erect the +wall of snow, and then, leaving Beaver Jack to complete the task, +strode on again towards the camp which they had vacated for the benefit +of the enemy. Under one arm the little hunter carried a ball of snow, +which seemed somewhat curious and unnecessary, especially considering +the fact that the ground was thickly covered with the same material. +But within the snow there was something of greater value. + +"It's that chunk o' meat," Hank had explained, when he first produced +his burden. "I set it over the fire till it was wellnigh cooked and +the frost driven out of it altogether. Then I cut it into pieces, +packed them close in a piece of skin from one o' the beasts we shot, +and wrapped the whole again in snow, which'll help to keep the heat in +and the cold out. Sounds rummy, don't it? But it'll work handsome." + +"Now, young chap," he whispered, when he and our hero had parted from +the Redskin and were within three hundred yards of the enemy, "we've +got to decide how we'll work this business. How's it to be?" + +"You take the dogs," said Joe at once. "I'll tackle Hurley." + +"But--but you ain't going to kick up a rumpus with him, surely!" +exclaimed Hank, sinking his voice till it was almost inaudible, and +almost hissing the words. "It aer the sleigh we want, two of 'em ef we +could manage it, though that ain't possible. Ef we get away with one, +only four of the critters can follow, and what's four after so many? +You ain't after Hurley?" + +He was answered by a vigorous shake of the head. "No, I don't want any +struggle; I wouldn't shoot the fellow if I had the opportunity." + +"Wouldn't ye? Then I would, me lad. It aer human nature to look to +number one fust. When a man murders, and aer wanted by the hangman, +when he begins trying his best to murder others, then's the time fer +him to go under. Hurley has my bullet fust time I kin look straight +along the barrel. But what aer you after?" + +"I don't know. I want to see what he's doing. I want to find out if +he has that envelope he stole from me so many months ago now." + +Hank's head shot up quickly. He was a man with such a vast experience +of life, and had encountered so many strange happenings, that he was +not inclined to think a thing impossible till he had proved it to be +so. There was that envelope, to be sure. Joe had often spoken about +it. He had told Hank the whole story, how there was something within +the envelope which he could have read had he chosen, though against his +dead father's wishes. The contents, in fact, were for perusal only +when he had made good, when he had fought his own battles. And Hank +had been impressed by the recital. + +"It aer a queer story," he had said in his quiet little way, "and I +'low as the temptation to open that envelope must have been great. But +your dad war right. Supposing the letter told you of dollars to be had +for the axing, what would have happened? You'd have stayed back there +in England. You'd have lived on the best of the land and become fat +and lousy. You wouldn't have had half the fun out of life, for the +struggle to make good aer fun to everyone who's got spirit and pride. +'Sides, there's something wuss. This here Hank wouldn't have made your +acquaintance. + +"Supposing that letter had had something to do with monetary affairs?" +The little hunter came to a halt promptly and stared before him. He +would have whistled but for the proximity of the enemy. Instead, he +turned on Joe, and with the snowflakes falling about them gripped him +firmly by the sleeve. "By Jingo," he whispered, "I believe you've got +it! That there Hurley stole the letter. When he was captured he hid +it up, for he'd had time to take a look at it. Perhaps he forgot to +hide the dollar notes. But in any case, he put the letter away in some +safe place, perhaps in the shack close to that lake where he went into +hiding. He'd larned that there was gain to be made by it, ef only he +could get clear of the law. Wall, he slipped off. Those police let +him out of their fingers. He went back for the letter, and then, +because you've something to do with it, as of course is sartin, he sets +out to find and wipe you out. Huh! It's all in a nutshell. You ain't +wanted, young chap. Soon as you're wiped out, Hurley comes in for +something that's waiting." + +Perhaps it was native sagacity again, a strange mixture of intuition +and intelligence, which helped the little hunter. Perhaps also, taking +every point into consideration, it was the most reasonable solution to +come to. Be that as it may, Hank at one effort had fathomed the +mystery of this unprovoked attack, and at the same time had discovered +that Joe was most probably rather an important person. + +"But you ain't got the dollars yet, not by a long way," he cautioned. +"We ain't got out of this muss, and Hurley'll do his best to hold us. +Now, lad, you aer after that envelope. Wall, see here. Ef it's to be +had easy, take it; ef not, leave the thing till another time. For ef +we clear out of this with our scalps we'll ride for the nearest fort +garrisoned by the North-west Police, or some station where there's +Ontario Police quartered. We'll inform about Hurley, and we'll lead a +party along till the rascal's taken. Life, I guess, aer more valuable +than a letter; so bear that in mind, and hold off ef there's danger." + +With their plans thus arranged, the two crept forward, and were soon +within some fifty yards of the camp. Through the falling snowflakes +they could see the large lean-to in which the half-breeds were +sleeping, for the band of desperadoes had thrown themselves down +immediately on returning. The fire at the entrance burned low, and the +light it gave out was feeble. But more issued from a second, blazing +some yards to the left, and illuminating the interior of the other +lean-to. + +"The men!" whispered Hank, pointing to the first. "That 'ere critter +yonder! It aer up to us now to locate the dogs. H-hish! Here's one +o' them coming." + +Joe saw him tear his bundle asunder and extract a piece of flesh. At +the same moment he became aware of the fact that a huge beast was +slowly crawling toward them. + +"Was it actually a dog? No. Yes; that was certain. Then would it +suddenly give tongue and fling itself upon them?" + +"H-h-hish!" said Hank, making a curious little clicking sound with his +tongue. "He's smelt the meat; ef only he'll be quiet, we'll soon have +the others." + +A low, almost inaudible growl came from the brute advancing on them. +Even in that light Joe could see that its coat was bristling. It was +slinking toward them now on half-bent legs, looking as if it would make +a sudden spring when within easy reach of them. The position of the +two might be described, in fact, as more than a trifle embarrassing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Across the Snows for Safety + +"Hist! Hist! Here, good dog!" Hank called gently to the huge brute +slinking towards himself and Joe, as they lay outside the winter +bivouacs of Hurley and his men, and held forward a tempting morsel of +flesh. Even our hero could scent the pleasing aroma from the morsel; +for the little hunter had so contrived with his covering of snow that +there was considerable warmth in it yet, while the frosty air seemed to +accentuate the aroma. But it was a toss up as to whether the beast +would suddenly give tongue or would slink still nearer and accept the +proffered dainty. + +"Good dog!" called Hank again. "Here's summat for yer." + +Perhaps his soothing voice had something to do with the matter. It may +have been even that the brute realized, as dumb brutes do, that he was +face to face with one well acquainted with his brethren. Suffice it to +say that his bristles subsided and he sidled up, wagging his tail, his +nose snuffing at the morsel. Hank patted him at once. + +"Here's more o' that," he said. "Lie down! Now, where aer the others? +It aer more'n likely that they've gone in with the men, and ef that's +the case it'll be a job to get 'em out, to say nothing of puttin' the +harness on 'em. See here, lad; I'll stay with this brute, so's to +quiet the others ef they come out. You creep in a bit closer and scout +around; I ain't yet quite sure how things aer. Take a piece of the +meat with you, and ef a dog runs out, jest pitch it towards him." + +It may be imagined that Joe needed no further orders. He was on hands +and knees at once, and began to creep towards the lean-to. In a little +while he was within a dozen feet, and, wriggling his way into a +position of advantage, he was soon able to look right in, the firelight +helping him greatly. A jumbled heap of bodies, legs, and arms met his +eyes, with the sleeping forms of dogs inextricably mixed up with them. +He saw, in fact, a typical residence of the half-breed. These men, of +a degenerate class themselves, and careless of everything so long as +their own comfort was assured, had turned into their lean-to without +removing so much as a garment, which is not to be wondered at, +considering the cold, and, throwing themselves down higgledy-piggledy, +had called to the dogs, who had promptly accepted the invitation, and, +thrusting their way into any odd corner and the most comfortable nooks, +had settled themselves down to sleep till the call of a new day aroused +them. But there was something more which attracted Joe's attention. +There seemed to be so few dogs, perhaps half a dozen in all, while each +of the sleigh teams mustered nine or ten. + +"Couldn't swear to the number," he told himself, "but there are not two +teams here, of that I am certain. Where, then, are the others?" + +Looking to right and to left gave him no help. It was clear that he +must search for them elsewhere, so promptly he crept away in the +direction of the second lean-to. It happened, too, that his path took +him to the end of this farthest removed from the spot where the fire +was blazing. Indeed, it was only native caution which caused him to +make for that end; for had he crawled towards the fire, its bright +flames would have betrayed his presence instantly to anyone happening +to look out. Hurley, he knew, was a suspicious, restless individual, +so that the merest whimper from one of the dogs, even a rustling of the +snow, might bring him into the open. + +"I'll give him no chance to spoil our plans," said Joe, kneeling up to +take a good look about him. "First thing is to take a squint into the +lean-to. There's a light somewhere inside, I fancy, so perhaps Hurley +is sitting up and making plans for the next attack. Hope he ain't, +though; I'd rather he were asleep, worn out by all that's happened." + +Crawling along on hands and knees, it was a little time before he came +to the lean-to. A glance over his shoulder now told him that Hank had +come a trifle closer, and still had the dog beside him. Knowing, +therefore, that he had someone to give him a warning should the +half-breeds suddenly emerge, Joe very gently separated two strips of +birch bark which closed in a portion of this Canadian dwelling. Then +he applied his eye to the aperture, only to find that he was staring +right across to the far side of the lean-to, and that neither Hurley +nor anyone else was within his vision. There was a roll of flaming +bark within two feet, however, spluttering and smoking gently. + +"No good here," he thought. "Must try the other side, and a trifle +lower down. Hallo--dogs! George--they're lying just outside this +shanty!" + +Joe had risen to his feet now, though still stooping, and as he peered +over the far end of the flimsy erection he caught sight of quite a +number of dogs stretched within easy distance of the fire, huddled into +one close body, and all fast asleep. After all, there was nothing +remarkable in that, or of sufficient importance to cause his +exclamations, save, of course, their proximity to himself. For these +dogs, bred in the Arctic zone almost, and in any case upon its fringe, +can stand a degree of cold which would rapidly kill a human being. +Warmth they like, just as do most animals, but they can resist a +Canadian winter in remarkable manner, and are capable of sleeping in +the open. In any case, there they were, bundled together, sleeping +deeply, no doubt tired after a hard day with the sleigh. + +"But they'll rouse any time," Joe told himself. "If there weren't snow +about to deaden my steps, they'd have kicked up a row already, unless, +of course, they take me for one of their masters." + +Perhaps that was the reason of their tranquillity. Satisfied that they +had not detected him yet, Joe crept round to the far side of the +lean-to and, boring another aperture, peered in. And on this occasion +his efforts won a greater reward; for Hurley lay before him. His bulky +form was stretched full length on one of the sleighs, his face turned +away from the light; a rifle was propped beside him, while close +against the sleigh was that same wooden box which we have already +described. For the rest, there was nothing more to comment on. +Travellers during a Canadian winter are few and far between--we speak +here of the backwoods--and such as there are carry merely necessaries, +so that a humble lean-to contains little else but the traveller. There +was Hurley, in fact, alone, and with a weapon beside him. The box was +of no consequence, though, if only Joe could have guessed that only a +few hours ago that precious document was spread out on it, it is likely +enough that he would have shown more excitement. But there was no sign +of the envelope. Doubtless the sleeping Hurley had it in an inner +pocket. Joe bore in mind Hank's warning, and promptly used all his +wits to bring about an escape from the ruffian. + +"Can't bother about the document or letter," he told himself. "We'll +tackle the man; but how, is the question? It's clear that he has +hauled the sleigh in to make a bed, leaving the dogs still attached to +it. That would be fine for us, if it weren't for the fact that Hurley +has fallen asleep on it. Then there's the gun; fancy I can reach that, +anyway." + +He stretched the opening a little wider, stood well above it, and +reached in. + +"Can't!" he told himself, with an exclamation of vexation. "Try again." + +This time the roof of the lean-to bent inward as he pressed upon it, +then his fingers hit upon the muzzle of the weapon. Joe gripped it +firmly, drew gently on it, and slowly extracted the gun through the +opening. + +"Makes things easier a whole heap. When he wakes he'll have to look +about for another weapon, unless he's got----" He pulled at the +opening and again stared in at the sleeper. "No sign of a shooter. +Hooray! Things begin to look a little better. I'll get hold of Hank +and have a chat with him." + +Within three minutes the two had retired a little and were discussing +matters in voices raised hardly above a whisper. Hank kneeled on the +snow, one arm about the dog he had coaxed into friendship, and who +seemed to have taken a huge fancy to him. The little man listened +carefully to our hero's description, and made no comment for a few +moments; then, of a sudden, a gurgling laugh came from some point deep +down in his throat. + +"Ef we don't win out I ain't Hank," he smiled. "Now, jest listen. +This aer the movement; Jimmy here--that's this dog, and I christened +him Jimmy 'cos that's the name of a beast I had once when huntin' in +the backwoods--Jimmy goes along up to his friends sleeping outside the +lean-to and wakes 'em. He lets 'em understand that things are right, +and that there's a new friend come to the camp. You needn't look as ef +you didn't believe it could be, young chap. You've got to remember +that there's a moon. Ef it were pitch dark it would be different, for +then the dogs couldn't see us. A beast barks at any sound on a dark +night, while with a moon, ef he kin see right off what's caused the +ruction, he don't always give tongue. Anyway, we try the plan. Ef it +fails, we'll have to make a rush at the brutes, put 'em into line, and +drive 'em. But here's the rest of the scheme. This is your part." + +"Ah! What? I'm ready." + +"In course you aer; couldn't I tell that from what you've done this +last five minutes?" + +"Well," said Joe impatiently, "you look to the dogs. That's right, for +you know a heap about them. What do I do?" + +"Settle Hurley." + +"Eh? Kill him? I----" + +"You don't need to be thin-skinned, young chap. This ain't a time fer +killing; I'll do that fast enough ef it comes to a tussle between us. +What you've got to do is to rouse him off the sleigh, and then smother +him so's he can't get clear of the lean-to till we've got aboard and +has set the dogs going. Jest sling that 'ere rifle into the bushes +here. Gently with it. Now you ain't bothered with extry weight. You +comes with me to the place agin and watches while I get in amongst the +dogs. Ef there's a noise, and Hurley rouses, bash the lean-to down on +top of his head, jump on it, send the sticks and the snow about him, +then leap on the sleigh and look out fer fireworks." + +Joe grinned; he couldn't help doing so, in spite of the danger of the +situation. "If there's not a row?" he asked. + +"Ef there's not a ruction with them dogs and the other men, and things +go nice and smooth and easy, I'll lift my hand when I'm ready. Then +you get a grip of that thar Hurley, bash him over the head ef you like +with your open hand, and, as he rises, bring the whole shanty down on +him--eh? You're there, ain't you? It aer a clear and straightforward +plan." + +"Got it," answered Joe promptly, moistening his lips, and tingling with +excitement and anticipation. "Do we start now?" + +"This very instant. But supposin' Hurley suddenly rouses as soon as we +get close, and afore you kin bring the shack down on him----" + +"Leave that to me," answered Joe tersely. "I've had one innings with +the ruffian already." + +There never were two who understood each other so well and so easily as +did Hank and our hero. Their discussion had taken them but a few bare +seconds, and now they were creeping back. Joe halted when close beside +the lean-to, while the little hunter sat down on his knees and +whispered to the dog Jimmy. The hound seemed to have gathered his +meaning too as rapidly as had Joe, for he went slinking forward and lay +down beside his comrades. As might have been expected, his coming +caused many of the beasts to open their eyes, though they did not offer +to move. But Hank was watching eagerly, and a second later a morsel of +flesh flew across, landing close to Jimmy. Others followed, and in an +incredibly short space of time the dogs were all aroused and standing. + +"Jest watch fer the signal," whispered the hunter. "I'm agoin' to put +'em into their harness." + +It was just at that moment that Joe heard a movement within the +lean-to, and promptly applied his eye to the opening he had made. +Hurley had turned over, and was now blinking at the spluttering torch, +while one arm was spread out over the box. Something seemed to have +alarmed him, for he sat up, giving the box a kick, which Hank heard; +then he got to his feet swiftly and, bending low, stepped toward the +opening, just outside which blazed the fire, and just beyond which Hank +was mustering the team of dogs. Hurley saw him; for the instant he +took him to be one of his own following, then he became suspicious. + +"Who's that?" he called. "Hi! Someone is tampering with the dogs." + +Joe did not venture to wait longer. He leaped on to the top of the +lean-to, the flimsy thing breaking down beneath his weight at once; he +trod upon the wretch beneath, sending him tumbling to the ground; then +he stood ready for the next movement. It came with startling +suddenness. Hank had found a whip close to the dogs, and sent it +cracking over the team. The brutes sprang forward the next instant, +and in spite of the fact that Hurley had tumbled across the sleigh, +they brought it out from beneath the smashed lean-to with a jerk which +tossed snow and sticks aside, and sent the rascally leader of this band +of cut-throats rolling backward from the end. Hank seemed to fly to +his position at the fore end. Joe fell across the sleigh as it flashed +past him, scrambled aboard, and found himself gripping the sides +closely; for a sleigh is no easy thing to ride when a strong team pulls +it at fast pace across ground which is broken. It jolts and sways +abominably, while often enough it will glissade, just like a petrol car +rounding a sharp and greasy corner. + +"Hold tight," shouted Hank, "and get yer shootin' iron ready for 'em! +When we comes up to Beaver Jack, I'll hand the reins over to him. +You'll take the centre place, while I'll nip in at the back, so as to +be ready to shoot that 'ere Hurley." + +Not a word passed between the two from that moment until they reached +the spot where Beaver Jack was waiting for them. Swinging along at a +glorious pace, and swerving and rolling, sometimes dangerously, they +finally dashed up to the heap of snow behind which the Redskin had +taken shelter. + +"Now, Jack, you take them dogs," said Hank quickly. "Give me a hold of +the rope tied on to your sleigh. There! It's fast to this; you kin +move off when you're ready." + +"But----" + +"What?" asked the hunter somewhat curtly, interrupting Joe. + +"Why let the dogs haul two sleighs? Cut Beaver Jack's pelts adrift and +tie 'em here. We can do it as we go. Our traps can be served in the +same way. It isn't the weight that'll tell so much as the amount of +ground our runners cover. A sleigh towing behind will hold the dogs +more than the load on it will do when added to this sleigh." + +"Shucks! You aer got the best head of the three of us," cried Hank. +"You git in at them dogs, Beaver Jack. Me and Joe'll fix the kit while +we're moving." + +Away went the lash of the whip cracking over the leaders. Beaver Jack +handled the team as a man does who has had great practice. Anyone +could have said that from merely observing his manner of wielding the +whip, for the short-handled, long-lashed dog whip employed in the north +of Canada is apt to be more dangerous to the amateur wielder than to +the dogs. It requires an amount of practice to control it; and as it +twirled and cracked, and leaped backwards and forwards, now over the +dogs, and then above the heads of Hank and Joe, there was proof +positive of Beaver Jack's previous acquaintance with it. Meanwhile, +Hank had drawn up the smaller sleigh alongside, and he and Joe rapidly +transferred its load to the large one on which they themselves sat, +lashing every article into position. + +At the enemy's camp there was now huge commotion. At first the +confusion had been so great that no one could guess what had happened. +Even Hurley himself had little more than an inkling, and it took him a +few seconds to pick himself up and free himself of the snow and debris +of the lean-to with which he had been covered. Then shouts of rage and +fierce orders burst from his lips; in his anger he dashed hither and +thither, shouting at his men, and even striking those who seemed to be +dawdling. + +"Put the other team into the sleigh, quick!" he commanded. "One of you +help here to find my rifle. Those men have made a sneaking night +attack, and will get clear off if we don't move quick. Here, look for +my rifle, I say. How in thunder did it get outside the lean-to?" + +There were quite a number of little matters which he was likely to find +difficult of explanation. But the gun was found eventually where Joe +had placed it, while the second team of dogs were got into their +harness. Then Hurley pressed two of the boldest of his followers into +this special service, and putting them aboard the remaining sleigh, +leaped there himself, and ordered the driver to set off in pursuit of +our hero and his friends. + +Beaver Jack never hesitated as to the course he ought to pursue once +his fingers closed on the reins Hank tossed him. + +"Clear back for the settlements," the little hunter had said, and the +Redskin obeyed him to the letter. He steered his team over a portion +of the lake, set them at the bank where it shelved very gradually to +the ice, and, gaining a hollow, aimed directly for a huge patch of +forest distinguishable with the aid of the moon's rays in the far +distance. + +"He war born cute, he war," grunted Hank, some minutes later, when all +the loads were secured, and he and Joe had time and opportunity to look +about them. "Beaver Jack never stirs a foot, but he watches everything +about him, and I reckon that he knows nigh every foot of the country; +knows it, too, whether it's fine weather or ef there's snow about and +landmarks is wiped out altogether. He aer steering downhill, knowing +as the big lake back behind drains along the valley to another, and +that again to a third. It means quick travelling all the way, and ef +we're to shake off them critters it'll be before we reaches the third +lake. Ah! Guess that's Hurley. It's a pity it's stopped snowing." + +It was necessary to cling to the sleigh tightly, for the going was fast +and furious. There was no time to watch for obstacles ahead, while the +snow covered the land so completely that deep brooks crossing their +line of flight were not seen till they were on to them, and then there +was a mighty shaking. The dogs, spurred on by the cracking whip, +leaped across the hollow. The sleigh bumped across with a great +jolting which tossed those aboard it to either side; but still they +clung tight, while the little hunter, seeing that a sleigh was +following, nimbly turned about, spread himself face downward on the top +of the sleigh, and placed his rifle before him. + +"You jest take and sit on my legs, Joe," he called; "then ef there's a +bad jolt I'll still be here. It won't make no difference to my +shootin', and it's likely to save delay. Ef I was to roll over you'd +have to stop, and that'd be serious." + +Joe promptly did as he was asked, tucking the legs of the little hunter +beneath him, and placing a blanket across them before he sat down. He +could then afford to turn his own head and watch the enemy. Away +behind them, tearing along at reckless speed, and at such a rate that a +cloud of white was thrown up in front of each runner for all the world +as if the sleigh were a ship at sea, Hurley and his comrades came +chasing after the trio they had fondly hoped to kill. A figure +crouched just behind the dogs, and the frosty air brought the sound of +his shouts and the crack of the dog whip he wielded. A second figure +was bundled up behind him, the face of the man on the shoulder of the +driver, while a pair of staring eyes peered at the sleigh ahead. +Hurley sat right aft, his bulky form overlapping the sides of the +sleigh, his head and shoulders well above his comrades. The moon, +playing upon the scene, showed a rod projecting upward from a point +just in front of the murderer, and at once Joe knew it was a rifle. He +saw the ruffian lean forward and shout at his men, and then watched as +he rose still higher--evidently he was half-kneeling and +half-sitting--his weapon was lifted into a horizontal position and went +to his shoulder. It was clear, in fact, that Hurley was about to fire. + +"Best get down flat, every one of us," cried Hank, in warning tones. +"Beaver Jack, you lie flat same as me, facing forward. You'll still be +able to steer, and kin use the whip ef it's wanted. Then Joe kin +stretch hisself out on top of the two of us. It'll be a cramping +business, but it aer better'n bein' shot." + +Such gymnastic efforts upon a sleigh rocking from side to side was no +easy matter. But when there is a man within reasonable distance whose +rifle is presented, and any moment may bring a bullet, the most +difficult of evolutions are carried out with wonderful rapidity. In +this case, Beaver Jack swivelled himself round with a dexterity there +was no denying. Then Joe turned entirely, for he wished to have his +eyes behind him all the while and watch Hurley. A second or so later +he was also lying flat, his weight helping to hold the Redskin to the +sleigh, while he gripped Hank now by the ankles. But he was hardly in +position when a puff of smoke burst from the rifle held by the burly +figure at the back of the pursuing sleigh, there was a dull flash, then +a bullet screamed past the heads of Hank and his friends. The reply to +this was sent without delay by the little hunter. + +"Missed!" he grunted. "Shootin' at a moving object ain't never too +easy with a rifle, but when the consarn you're fixed on is movin' +itself as well, why, a hit aer often a chance. Guess Hurley ha' got +his eye in." + +It was a cold-blooded observation, hardly likely to encourage either. +But the grin on Hank's face showed that he himself was not greatly +concerned by the close approach of a second bullet which Hurley had +fired. For Joe, one can only say that he watched the duel fascinated, +fear for his own person lost in his interest. Once again he saw +Hurley's rifle lifted, saw the smoke belch from the muzzle, and then +heard--almost felt, one might say, without exaggeration--the passage of +the bullet. + +Hank chuckled. "This here lyin'-down position bothers him fine," he +cried. "He aer got to drop his muzzle a whole heap before he hits us. +But I'm not the one to give chances; I'm going to pick off that Hurley." + +Up went his own rifle, for Hank leaned on one elbow. He took a long +and careful aim and then pulled his trigger; but the result was not +what he had anticipated. As he himself had said, shooting was +extremely difficult under such circumstances, for the sleigh swayed and +jolted horribly. But the bullet missed the ruffian at whom it was +aimed only because there was another man in front of him. Of a sudden +the driver of the pursuing sleigh dropped his whip and doubled up, his +chin on his chest. Then he swayed a little, and, as if with a mighty +effort, gathered all his strength and threw himself backward, pulling +on the reins and bringing his team to a standstill. But it was his +last action. He toppled over to the left and fell into the snow. + +"Wrong man; sorry," Hank jerked out grimly. "Hurley'll have it next +time. I'll wait a bit to get him closer." + +The chase after that settled down a little, Hank holding his fire, +while Hurley himself copied the example of the little hunter and spread +himself out flat on his sleigh, his new driver also. But this was +apparent, with a lighter load the enemy were getting nearer. + +"Ef that's the case, we'll make a stop precious soon," said Hank. +"What say, Joe?" + +"I'm with you. We're three now to their two, and if we could face +eight of them some little while ago, surely we could----" + +His argument came to an abrupt ending at that moment, for a wide ditch +with vertical banks carved out by nature crossed their path, and the +snow hid it from view. It was more than likely that the snow had +formed a species of bridge over this deep hollow; but, in any case, it +broke down as the last of the team of dogs crossed, causing the front +end of the sleigh to dip suddenly. The runners cannoned against the +iron-hard banks, and in a twinkling sleigh and men went flying. + +"Surely we could face those two," gasped Joe, as if continuing the +sentence where circumstances had caused it to be so abruptly broken, +and at the same time picking himself up from the bank of snow into +which he had been thrown. "Here's fine cover. This ditch will hide us +completely." + +He threw himself down into the deep hollow at once, and found that he +had quite a high bank before him, over which he had to lift his head to +see the enemy. Hurley marked the occasion by firing at him, and his +bullet swished past within an inch, causing Joe to duck suddenly. As +for Hank, the sudden upset seemed to have caused him vast amusement, +and certainly he wasn't in the smallest degree hurt, though, being at +the rear of the sleigh, he had been thrown over the heads of his +comrades and had come down sprawling amongst the dogs. He picked up +himself and his weapon instantly and crept to Joe's side, still +grinning widely, while Beaver Jack, undisturbed by the upset, his +gravity of demeanour and his native dignity not in the least degree +ruffled, coolly turned the sleigh the right way up, dragged it +backward, and called hoarsely to the dogs to lie down. + +"We war jest meant to stop and have it out with them critters," said +Hank, when he had shaken the snow out of his eyes and mouth. "Gee! +that war a tumble. Lucky fer us there's soft snow. Ef it had been on +bare ice, there's some of us would have had cracked heads. Ha! Hurley +ha' thought better of coming along towards us. Guess this business is +gettin' a little more serious than he wanted. Yer see, he had jest +three at fust, three as didn't know he was following. Now he's got the +same three, and only one to help him agin them. You sit low, lad; +bullets has a way of striking jest when they ain't expected." + +His own head went down of a sudden, while a bullet buzzed above them. +Evidently it must have gone extremely near to the Redskin, who was then +crawling towards them, for Beaver Jack's impassive face broke into a +smile. His sensitive lips actually curled, those deep-set, penetrating +eyes twinkled, while his curious chin went up and seemed almost to +embrace the tip of the hooked nose. + +"None the wuss if you ain't hit, mate," laughed Hank. "Joe, how do yer +like bullets flyin' close beside you?" + +To look at our hero it was an experience which he enjoyed, for he was +smiling. But it was not because of the bullets. He was smiling at the +sudden change in their fortunes, at the complete success of the special +efforts which he and Hank had made, and at the thought that, instead of +being chased by Hurley now, they might well turn the tables on him. + +"We've a duty to do," he said so sharply, that the little hunter swung +round upon him. + +"Eh? Duty?" he asked. + +"Yes; there's a murderer, a criminal wanted by the law. Our duty is to +take him, so that he can do no more mischief." + +"In course," came the ready answer, "that's what we're going to do. +See here, Joe, I don't return to the settlements till we've got our man +or rubbed him out entirely. It's the same thing to me whichever +happens; only stop his game we will." + +"Right! I'm with you," cried Joe. + +"Then jest look spry and don't get standin' in the way of his rifle," +grunted Hank, as he peered cautiously at the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Back to the Farm + +The minutes which passed as Joe and his friends lay in the hollow into +which the upset of their sleigh had thrown them proved, as they rapidly +increased in number, that plans, however carefully made, do not always +become accomplished. It had been agreed between the little hunter and +our hero that it was their plain duty to capture Hurley; for was he not +an escaped criminal, a murderer, a brute who sought to slay them? But +try as they might to circumvent the rascal, he outwitted them. + +"It aer one of them tarnation difficulties that one don't realize till +one comes up agin them," said Hank after a while, for immediately on +their upset Hurley had caused his own team of dogs to be pulled up +short, and had himself taken advantage of a hollow. Hidden in it, he +bobbed up every now and again and sent a shot swishing over the little +party, while apparently the bullets fired by Joe and his friend had no +better effect. They were, in fact, merely wasting time. + +"Doing no harm, and just keeping us here till his men come up to join +him," ventured Joe. + +"Huh!" grunted the trapper. "But we'll see as they don't get quite up +to him, unless, of course, there's a hollow which will give them cover +all the way. Lad, this aer likely to get serious." + +"Then why not make a bolt for it?" asked Joe. "I don't mean run away +altogether," he added, as Hank flashed round upon him, "but make a rush +and draw him after us. If Beaver Jack steers so as to take us into +broken country, where there are patches of trees and undergrowth, we +could select a suitable place, stop suddenly, and then shoot as Hurley +came after us." + +Hank struck the butt of his rifle violently. "Ef that ain't a wheeze!" +he cried exultantly. "Ef he follows us--and it ain't dead sartin--but +ef he does, Beaver Jack'll manage the move for us easy. Let's see; +yes, there's trees 'way ahead--only to reach 'em we've got to run the +gauntlet." + +"Well? What matters?" asked Joe. "Better that than have all those +rascals close up to us and shooting." + +"We'll do it," exclaimed Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard this +proposition?" + +The Redskin hardly deigned to answer; instead, he swung his dogs round, +pulling them by means of the reins, till he had them lying in the +hollow itself. + +"Not do mount here," he said. "P'raps bullet hit us. But creep away +down there till we reach trees. Leave one here to fire now and again; +then, when all ready, jump on the sleigh and get away behind cover." + +He held out an attenuated hand, the fingers of which were as fine as +any lady's, and pointed to a patch of trees springing from the side of +the hollow a hundred or more yards away. The gesture and his words +were sufficient explanation of his meaning. If the sleigh were taken +there without its human load, and the feat could be accomplished +without Hurley seeing, then all could mount and start away before the +murderer had become aware of their intentions. + +"It aer a cute move, and we'll work it," said Hank instantly. "Now, +Joe, which of us'll stay; you or me?" + +"My place," came the ready answer. "I suggested going, therefore I do +the work which will help us to fool Hurley. I'll give him a shot now +and again." + +Hank at once slid down into the hollow and joined Beaver Jack. Joe +watched them as they sprawled on their faces, first placing their +weapons on the sleigh; then he saw them slowly move away, the Redskin +beside his team, crawling on all-fours, talking to the dogs and keeping +them well under cover. + +Crack! crack! Zip! zip! Two bullets swished overhead, the crisp +sounds they made proving that they had been aimed at Joe and not at his +comrades. At once he bobbed up, aimed for the place where he knew +Hurley was in hiding, and fired; but he saw nothing of the enemy. This +was a duel waged between contestants who kept beneath cover, and hoped +only for a lucky chance to hit an enemy. Joe waited again, and once +more the exchange of shots was repeated. Then he turned his head, to +find that Hank and Beaver Jack had reached the trees and were waiting +for him. + +"I'll give 'em one more," he told himself, raising his rifle, "and then +join the others. Hallo! What's this? One of Beaver Jack's pelts. +Suit my purpose admirably." + +Two shots rang out again in the distance, and Joe's followed swiftly. +Then he placed the dark-coloured skin on the top of the bank, and +within sight of the enemy, and at once sprawled on hands and knees and +crawled along the hollow. He accomplished the distance to the +rat-a-tat-tat of rifle shots, for Hurley and his comrade had found a +mark to aim at. Then he took his place on the sleigh, on which Hank +and Beaver Jack were already seated, and which they had hauled in +behind the cover of the trees. + +"Best get into position and comfortably settled afore we set out," said +the little hunter. "Gee! What a racket they're making! They ain't +spotted this business, I hope?" + +"Shooting at one of Beaver Jack's pelts," said Joe dryly. "He left it +behind. I thought he'd be able to spare it." + +"My, you'll do!" exclaimed Hank, laughing outright. "I've known young +chaps as could fight all right, but who were always mighty serious when +bullets war flying, and couldn't think of things like that. You'll do, +Joe. You aer got a sense of humour. Now, Beaver Jack, you get in at +it, and don't drive 'em too fast after the fust bust of speed. We aer +got to draw that Hurley cuss close up to us." + +Shouts of anger and disappointment greeted the party as they swung out +from behind the cover and into the open. Shots were fired in their +direction also. But Beaver Jack was a master of stratagem; he kept the +patch of cover that had already helped them so much between the sleigh +and the enemy, and Hurley, seeing that the men he desired to kill were +rapidly increasing their distance, rushed for his own sleigh, leaped +aboard, and bellowed to his driver to set the team in motion; and, +thanks to the lighter weight the pursuing sleigh bore, and in no small +degree to Beaver Jack's skill and cunning, Hurley slowly gained upon +the three men flying before him. He leaned upon his elbow, for he had +again adopted the position which Hank had first shown him, and, taking +a long and careful aim, sent a bullet flying after them. + +"Time we stopped!" cried Joe abruptly, gripping his elbow, for the +missile had struck him. Not that it was a severe wound--on the +contrary, it was little more than a graze--but even that causes pain +and rouses a man to exertion. Joe was determined to put up no longer +with Hurley's attempts upon his life and upon those of his comrades. + +"Let's stop this business right here and now," he cried hotly. +"There's a long patch of wood ahead; let's fix to pull in the team +there." + +"Good fer you, lad!" answered Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard the +order? Now, Joe lad, listen to this. I has fust shot; ef I miss, +you're welcome to try; only I somehow feel as ef this war my special +business. Here we are; now fer it." + +Beaver Jack brought the team to a halt in masterly manner, while Joe +and the hunter rolled off the sleigh. Then Hank took post close to the +edge of the wood and just in the open. + +"I ain't the one to fire at a man without giving him a chance," he +said. "Ah! he's seen us; he's stopped. That was a near 'un!" + +There was a heavy thud as Hurley's bullet struck the tree beside the +hunter. Then up went Hank's weapon. He took a rapid sight, and then +flung down his rifle almost before the report had come to Joe's ears, +while the latter watched for the result of the shot with more than a +little anxiety. A little time before he would perhaps have wished +Hurley to escape injury, for Joe possessed a soft and forgiving heart. +Now, however, he had a different opinion as to his merits. It was, +therefore, with no great amount of sorrow that he saw the ruffian +suddenly throw up his arms and tumble over. + +"Wiped out clean," growled Hank. "Dead as a trapped beaver." + +There could be no doubt that that was the end of the murderer. Hank's +bullet had, in fact, killed Hurley instantaneously, and had thereby +provided a fitting punishment for the detestable crime he had +committed. As for Hurley's companion, the half-breed leaped on to the +sleigh which, like his master, he had abandoned for the moment, and +sending his whip cracking over the dogs, turned them in the opposite +direction and raced away for safety. + +"Not as he's got anything to fear from me," said Hank; "I aer done what +I promised. And now, young chap, guess there are something more for us +to look into--there aer that letter." + +It was uppermost in his mind as in our hero's, and it is not to be +wondered at that they boarded their sleigh and swung their team back +towards the dark figure lying prone in the snow behind them. But would +Hurley have the document still? Had he destroyed it? In fact, had he +ever had it, or was it possible that both Hank and Joe had conjured up +a conspiracy which had never existed? Supposing Hurley had merely +fallen upon their trace by accident, and then, learning that two of the +men who had previously helped to hound him down were of the party, had +endeavoured to slay them? + +Those were the fears and the questions which raced through their minds +as Beaver Jack sent the dogs straining across the snow towards the body +of their enemy. They found him lying face downwards, a crimson stain +spoiling the beautiful white of Nature's own making. + +"Search him," said Joe, turning his head away from such a gruesome +sight. "Search him, then let us go." + +"Got it! Huh! I said so, didn't I?" + +Hank's face was radiant. He held aloft a long envelope, stained with +much handling, and then, having run through all of Hurley's pockets, he +dragged the document from the envelope and coolly perused it. Joe +himself had now no qualms as to reading it also. + +"You are on the high road to 'making good'," said Hank. "There ain't +no reason now in waiting longer. Read! It aer as clear as daylight +that Hurley had made up his mind to wipe you out and then to make for +England with the idea of passing himself off as your father." + +When they were able to gather all the details, this, indeed, proved to +be the crux of the whole conspiracy, and the death of Hurley had alone +put an end to it. It is not for us to raise doubts here as to his +prospects. Doubtless there was many a slip which he might have made, +for criminals are ever careless; but matters were decidedly in his +favour. That receipt, still within the envelope, would obtain for him +all the proofs of Mr. Bradley's birth and life and parentage. The +signature, doubtless, he would learn to copy, while the very fact of +Joe's father having kept so much to himself would have made Hurley's +non-recognition at the Bradleys' old home of no moment. The weak +point, however, arrived when he expected residents in the little +provincial town where Joe had spent his early existence to recognize in +Hurley the cycle maker who they knew had died quite lately. + +"He'd have been had there," said Joe thoughtfully, "unless, of course, +he had declared that he never lived in England after he was twenty +years of age. Ah! that was his game; he had become a colonist. No +doubt he could have imported some scoundrel to swear to the fact that +Hurley was not known as Hurley at all, but as Bradley. However, +there's an end to the matter. Wonder what this uncle of mine's like? +Don't feel over-keen on writing to him." + +Circumstances saved Joe that necessity, for no sooner had he sent +information to the London solicitors who held the proofs which his +father had deposited, than he learned that his uncle was dead. He had, +in fact, survived Mr. Bradley but a few months. Thus Joe was the heir +to the property. + +"Let it go hang for the time being," he said, when he and Hank and the +Fennicks were discussing the matter together; for the trio had safely +returned to the settlement at the head of the valley in New Ontario. +"I've something far more interesting here, I can assure you." + +He said that with truth, too, for never was there a more fascinating +business than Sam Fennick had created. That spring, in fact, more than +twenty families joined him, shacks were run up rapidly by the +corporation into which they formed themselves, while machinery was +already arriving. Soon the workers were divided into parties, each +with their tasks assigned, and by seeding time not only had every +family a good roof over its head, but an extraordinary amount of ground +had been broken. + +There is little to add with regard to our hero. That winter which +followed he ran over to England, and then, having placed his affairs in +the hands of lawyers, and having let the property to which he had +proved his title, he returned to join his comrades. Up at the end of +that valley Peter Strike, and Hank, and many another are now located. +A railway draws its steel lines through the heart of the settlement, +while a school is already building. That is the way with Canada, red +tape has scarcely an existence; it is merely a bad memory imported from +the old country. Yes, there is a school building, while the telephone +is fitted to houses rapidly replacing the rough shacks. But that is +not all. Electric light is generated by water power at the foot of the +lake, while there is a lumber mill down south, and logs pay handsomely. +Motors buzz, too, out on the fields, and acres of soil are ripped open +and ploughed in as many hours as days were taken formerly with horse +tackle. Joe himself is rather proud of the potatoes he grows on his +holding, while he has hopes some day of beating all at the annual fruit +show in Toronto. You may ask with reason, perhaps, whether he ever +pines for London or a city. No, emphatically no! Joe is an open-air +man, a jovial, hard-working, contented fellow, who loves the wilds of +the Dominion, and who now and again sneaks off into the backwoods with +his old chum Hank. But business is his main consideration. His +purchases close to Peter Strike's old settlement have increased +enormously in value, while elsewhere he is making money. + +"Not as it matters much to a chap same as you," said Hank one night, +for he and Joe lived together; "you're rich without these here acres. +But guess it's not the dollars you're after; it's makin' good, eh, Joe? +Making good 'lows a man to be proud of hisself, and, jingo, it aer +worth doing!" + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Boy of the Dominion, by F. S. 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S. Brereton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Boy of the Dominion + A Tale of Canadian Immigration + +Author: F. S. Brereton + +Illustrator: William Rainey + +Release Date: December 3, 2011 [EBook #38206] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOY OF THE DOMINION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2"> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="HIS FINGERS HIT UPON THE MUZZLE OF THE WEAPON <I>Page 343</I>" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +HIS FINGERS HIT UPON THE MUZZLE OF THE WEAPON <I><A HREF="#p343">Page 343</A></I> +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +A +<BR> +Boy of the Dominion +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +A Tale of Canadian Immigration +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +LT.-COLONEL F. S. BRERETON +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Author of "Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout" "With Shield and Assegai" &c. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<I>ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I.</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +1913 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<I>Printed in Great Britain by</I> +<BR> +<I>Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY LT.-COLONEL BRERETON +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"F. S. Brereton is a famous hand with adventures of every +sort."—<I>Morning Post</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Colin the Scout: A Tale of Adventure Abroad.<BR> +On the Field of Waterloo.<BR> +With French at the Front: A Story of the Great European War down to the Battle of the Aisne.<BR> +With Joffre at Verdun: A Story of the Western Front.<BR> +Under Foch's Command: A Tale of the Americans in France.<BR> +With the Allies to the Rhine: A Story of the Finish of the War.<BR> +With Allenby in Palestine: A Story of the Latest Crusade.<BR> +Under French's Command: A Story of the Western Front from Neuve Chapelle to Loos.<BR> +The Great Airship: A Tale of Adventure.<BR> +From the Nile to the Tigris: A Story of Campaigning from Western Egypt to Mesopotamia.<BR> +A Boy of the Dominion: A Tale of Canadian Immigration.<BR> +Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia.<BR> +A Sturdy Young Canadian: A Story of Modern Canada.<BR> +John Bargreave's Gold: A Tale of the Caribbean.<BR> +How Canada was Won: A Tale of Wolfe and Quebec.<BR> +Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout.<BR> +Roger the Bold: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico.<BR> +Indian and Scout.<BR> +The Rough Riders of the Pampas.<BR> +In the King's Service: A Tale of Cromwell's Invasion of Ireland.<BR> +With Shield and Assegai: A Tale of the Zulu War.<BR> +With Rifle and Bayonet: A Tale of the Boer War.<BR> +The Dragon of Pekin: A Tale of the Boxer Revolt.<BR> +One of the Fighting Scouts: A Tale of Guerilla Warfare in South Africa.<BR> +A Knight of St. John: A Tale of the Siege of Malta.<BR> +The Great Aeroplane.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Contents +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAP.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">Finding a Profession</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">An Ocean Voyage</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">Volunteers called for</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">Joe Gathers Credit</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">One of the Settlers</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">A Canadian Bad Man</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">Into the Backwoods</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Hank makes his Appearance</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">Lost in the Forest</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A Hand-to-hand Encounter</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">Investing Hard-Earned Dollars</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">The Canadian Winter</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A Co-operative Proposition</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">Moose Hunting</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">Pursued by Unknown Enemies</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Choosing a Fortress</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">On the Defensive</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">Across the Snows for Safety</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">Back to the Farm</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +Illustrations +</P> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +His Fingers hit upon the Muzzle of the Weapon . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-072"> +Joe Attacks the Fire at Close Quarters +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-104"> +Peter and Jack Bailey find Joe Unconscious +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-168"> +Joe Surprises Hurley +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-216"> +The Moose charged Madly +</A> +</H4> + +<H4> +<A HREF="#img-320"> +A Defence against Odds +</A> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +A BOY OF THE DOMINION +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER I +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Finding a Profession +</P> + +<P> +It was just past ten o'clock on a chilly morning in the early spring +when Joe Bradley emerged from the shop door of the little house which +had been his father's, and stepped, as it were, abruptly into life. +The banging of the door and the turning of the key were a species of +signal to him, as if to warn him that the past, however fair or foul it +may have been, was done with, and that the future alone stared him in +the face. +</P> + +<P> +"There it is," he said, somewhat sadly, handing the key to a man who +accompanied him. "You've paid me the money, and have arranged about +your lease. The business is yours." +</P> + +<P> +"And you can wish me success," came the answer. "Hope I'll do better +than your father." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it, with all my heart," said Joe, his lip a little tremulous. +"Goodbye! Good luck!" +</P> + +<P> +He could hardly trust himself to say even that; for Joe was but +seventeen years of age, and changes are apt to prove trying to one so +youthful. Moreover, there are few, fortunately, who at the age of +seventeen find themselves face to face with the future all alone. +</P> + +<P> +Joe pulled the collar of his overcoat up over his ears, for the wind +was keen and cutting, and thrust his hands deep into his trouser +pockets. For a little while he watched the retreating figure of the +man to whom he had sold his father's business, and then glanced +aimlessly up and down the single street of which this little northern +town boasted. Let us declare at once that hesitation was not a feature +of Joe's character; but there was an excuse for such a display on this +cold morning. For, as we have just said, when he stepped out of his +shop he, as it were, stepped into this big world; he cut himself adrift +from the past and all its pleasant memories, and faced the wide future. +</P> + +<P> +"What to do, that's the knotty question? Can't stay here, that's quite +certain. Then where do I go? It's a corker!" +</P> + +<P> +If one puts oneself in the place of Joe Bradley for a few moments, +thoroughly understanding his position, it will be admitted that there +was good cause for hesitation, and that a dilemma such as he found +himself in would puzzle anyone, and even one gifted with greater age +and discretion. For beyond the fair education which he had contrived +to pick up, and some knowledge of mechanics and cycle fitting, Joe +could boast of no special training; in any case, he knew of nothing in +this little northern town which could give him employment. +</P> + +<P> +"I've simply got to move away—only where, that's the question," he +repeated to himself for perhaps the fiftieth time that day. "I've +sixty pounds in my pocket. That's my capital. If I do nothing I live +on that money, and the day draws nearer and nearer when I must work or +starve; so work is the thing I want. Exactly so—work. What work? +Where?" +</P> + +<P> +He pursed his lips up and whistled—a little habit of his—then he +looked up and down the street again, his brows furrowed, evidently +thinking deeply. And while he stands there before the cycle shop which +had been in his father's possession, we may as well take advantage of +his indecision to take a careful look at Joe. +</P> + +<P> +Seventeen he called himself, and the face was that of a lad of about +that age, though perhaps, if anything, just a trifle too serious for +one so young. But it was unlined, save for the wrinkles which were now +upon his brow while he was thinking. It was a frank, open face, and +when one caught him smiling, which in other days was often enough, +there was something particularly taking about Joe Bradley. Indeed, he +was a gay, light-hearted fellow, just the one, in fact, who, finding +his fortunes suddenly darkened, might very likely mope and pine and +suffer from a severe attack of the blues. But Joe had too much +character for that. The shrill whistle he had given broke into a +jaunty tune, while he plunged his hands even deeper into his pockets. +No, there was no sign of the blues about him, but merely a show of +anxiety clearly reflected on a face which bade fair, one of these days, +to be handsome. There was grit, too, about Joe's features; there was +budding firmness about the jaw and lips, while the eyes belonged to one +who could look friend or foe in the face without flinching. Otherwise +he was rather tall for his age, squarely built, and decidedly active. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" called someone to him, and swinging round Joe found himself +facing the doctor's assistant. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" he responded, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +"Where away?" came the question, while the doctor arrested his bicycle +and balanced it with one foot on either side. +</P> + +<P> +"That's just it," said Joe, looking serious. "I was just asking myself +the same thing. It's a conundrum." +</P> + +<P> +"A conundrum, eh? Don't understand, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it's like this," explained our young friend, while the doctor +regarded him closely. "I've just handed over the key of the shop to +Mr. Perkins. He's paid me sixty pounds for the business as a going +concern. So I'm out of work and homeless. I'm just wondering what to +do and where to go. I've sent my box to the station, but exactly in +which direction I shall travel is a toss up." +</P> + +<P> +"In fact, you've the world before you, and find it hard to say which +part shall be honoured with your presence," smiled the doctor. "Well, +Joe, one thing's certain—this place is no good to you. You'd collect +dust here, and that's no good to anyone. Make for London, +or—George!—why shouldn't you—why not emigrate?" +</P> + +<P> +"Emigrate?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; go to Canada or Australia. Strike out a line for yourself. +There are thousands who are doing it—thousands who haven't got so much +as sixty shillings in their pockets. Think it over." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," declared Joe, his eyes shining. +</P> + +<P> +"Then come and see me to-night and we'll have a talk. Must move along +now; I've a patient to visit." +</P> + +<P> +The doctor was off within a few seconds, leaving Joe still standing +outside the shop so recently vacated, still with his ears well within +his collar and his hands deep in his pockets. But there was a new +expression on his face, while the eyes were distinctly brighter. For +here was a suggestion; here was a way out of the dilemma which for the +past three weeks had faced him. Till then he had hardly known the +meaning of the word trouble. He had been content to work in the cycle +shop with his father. But the latter's sudden death, the necessity to +sell the business and move away had thrown our young friend into a +whirl that was bewildering. And this suggestion that he should +emigrate was the first solid one that had been made to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" he asked himself. "Others have done so. Of course I could, +if I liked, take the other course Father points out to me. Supposing I +were to open the letter?" +</P> + +<P> +He withdrew one hand from his trouser pocket and plunged it into an +inner one. When he brought it into the light again there was a long +sealed envelope between his fingers. Joe turned it round and read some +writing on it carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"To my son, Joe Bradley," he read. "The contents of this letter will +explain to you many things which I have never cared to refer to. But I +beg of you never to open it till you are in direst need, or have earned +the right to do so. Make your way in the world; gather riches. Then +you can open and read." +</P> + +<P> +"Make your way in the world and then open. I will," declared Joe +aloud, forgetful of his surroundings. +</P> + +<P> +"Will what? Eh? You ain't ill, Joe?" asked a man who had approached +from between the houses. In fact, he had suddenly emerged from an +alleyway that cut in between the shop which Joe had so recently vacated +and the next one, belonging to the nearest grocer. Swinging round, our +young friend found himself face to face with the local constable. A +huge, hairy face was grinning at him from beneath an absurdly small +helmet. +</P> + +<P> +"Will what?" demanded the constable, his smile broadening till he +showed an uneven array of teeth, from the centre of the upper row of +which one was missing. Joe's eyes were attracted by the gap, and in a +flash he remembered that Constable Near had come by the injury during a +contest with some poachers. "Will what?" demanded the hairy fellow +again. "It's a queer thing to hear a young fellow saying as you spring +out upon him. There was you, Mister Joe, standing all alone, +wool-gathering I should reckon, and holding out a paper before you. 'I +will!' you cries, as if you was gettin' married. What's it all about?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe told him crisply. "I'm wondering what on earth to do with myself," +he said. "Doctor Tanner suggests emigrating." +</P> + +<P> +"And why not?" exclaimed the constable. "Why not, me lad? If I was +young again, same as you, I'd go. Don't you make no error, I'd hook it +termorrer. And I'll tell yer fer why—this country's too full of +people. Out there, in Canidy, there's room for me and you, and +thousands like us. There's free grants of land to be had; there's +labour fer all, and good wages." +</P> + +<P> +"And no failures?" asked Joe shrewdly. +</P> + +<P> +"In course there's failures. In course there's people too tired to +work when they do get out, and there's others taken in and robbed by +those who should know better; but there's success fer most, Mister Joe. +There's better than that; there's indipendence—indipendence, me lad! +For two twos I'd sell up and be going. Now look you here, come along +to the station, where I'll show you a few figures." +</P> + +<P> +Here was a treasure; Joe snatched at the opportunity, and accompanied +his old friend the constable to his own cosy little cottage. Nor was +he there for long before he learned that it was possible to obtain an +assisted passage to Canada, with the definite promise of work on +landing. Moreover, with the money he had he could easily pay his way +and still have enough to make him independent when he arrived. +</P> + +<P> +"You jest think it all over," said Constable Near, when he had shown +Joe various papers. "You're young enough, and supposing you don't like +Canada, why, you could go along on to Australia. But like it you will; +I've heard tell of it often." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll go into the matter," Joe answered. "If I want more +particulars I'll call in again. Thanks, constable; I already feel that +I have fewer difficulties." +</P> + +<P> +It was with a lighter and a brisker step that he emerged into the +street again. Cramming his hat down on his head, Joe tucked his collar +about his ears again—for it was very cold outside—and went striding +off towards the country. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't think in this town," he told himself. "I always get back to the +shop, as it were, thinking of Father and of his letter. That letter's +a temptation to me. I won't open it; I swear I'll make my way before I +venture to break the seals. Now about Canada—or shall it be +Australia?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a sensible idea of Joe's to clear out of the town and all its +old associations. For, recollect, he was young, and almost up till +that moment had had a father to refer to in all his youthful +difficulties. But Mr. Bradley, never a very robust man, had died +somewhat suddenly some three weeks earlier, and Joe was now an orphan. +As to his parentage, he was even then somewhat vague. His mother he +had never known. She was not even a memory to him, having died shortly +after his birth. Of his father he knew little more. Obviously he was +one who had been born to better things than a cycle shop. There were +many in this northern town who wagged their heads when speaking of Mr. +Bradley, and the doctor, a shrewd judge of character and of men, had +long ago decided the point; only, being a discreet fellow, had +mentioned it to none other than his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"There's something about that Mr. Bradley that bothers me, my dear," he +had said. "He's a gentleman through and through, while his personal +appearance, his reserve, and his manners generally proclaim that he has +seen better days. He never grumbles; but I know there is a history +behind his reserve. The boy takes after him, too; he keeps much to +himself, and is obviously superior to boys of a similar station." +</P> + +<P> +That was the general opinion of the keeper of the cycle shop, and +seeing that Mr. Bradley gave himself no airs, and was always pleasant +to all and sundry, he was, in his quiet, retiring way, a popular +character in the town. His death had been followed by the usual +gossip. Then a buyer for the business had speedily turned up, and with +his help and that of a local solicitor Joe had had no difficulty in +settling all his affairs and in paying all debts. As we have said, +here he was with sixty pounds in his pocket, good health, good temper, +and good appearance, and the world before him. But he had no fixed +purpose in life. He was like the man who enters upon business without +a plan of action; like the general without a settled scheme of +campaign, and likely enough to expend his whole strength in useless and +profitless skirmishes. Joe, without a plan to work with, was certain +to see his little fortune slip from between his fingers before he found +remunerative work. +</P> + +<P> +"Must get out of the place and think," he told himself. "Here's for a +sharp walk." +</P> + +<P> +Head buried in his collar still, and hands deep in his pockets, he went +striding away into the country, nodding to those acquaintances who gave +him good day. It was a little later when he heard in the far distance +the echo of a motor horn. +</P> + +<P> +"Big car," he told himself, for his father had dabbled in motor-car +repairs, and Joe had learned more than a smattering of those useful and +wonderful machines. "Coming along fast, too. Fellow's in a hurry. +They'd better pull up soon, for the corner yonder is a sharp one, and +there are cattle on the road." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes followed the long greasy ribbon ahead, winding in between the +hedges till it was cut off at an abrupt angle where the road doubled +almost upon itself. The corner was, in fact, one similar to those to +be found so often in England, perhaps a relic of the early days when +roads were first constructed, and some selfish owner declined to allow +their passage, save and except they passed round the confines of his +property. Whatever the reason, here was a greasy strip of macadam +doubling upon itself, with a herd of cattle ambling aimlessly along it. +Boom! The horn sounded again, while the whirr of machinery died down a +trifle. +</P> + +<P> +"Driver has seen the triangle marking a dangerous corner and is +slowing," Joe told himself. "He'll have a surprise when he gets round; +it'll be a case of brakes hard on." +</P> + +<P> +Boom! Boom! The car was up to the corner. It came shooting round, +not necessarily at too fast a pace; for your modern, low-hung car can +legitimately attack curves at a speed of twenty or more miles an hour. +But the careful driver allows for the unexpected. Wagons are to be +discovered often enough at a corner, and invariably on the wrong side +of the road. Pedestrians, gifted with wonderfully thick heads and, one +suspects, with a degree often enough of stupid obstinacy, insist on +adhering to the centre of the road. Yes, there are often unexpected +obstacles, and here there were cattle. Round the car came—a big red +one—its glass wind shield flashing in the light. Burr! Screech! The +brakes went on instantly, and the scream of metal came to Joe's ear. +</P> + +<P> +"Old car," he told himself again, with the air of one who has had +experience. "New cars don't make a sound with their brakes. My! He's +put 'em on hard; he'll skid if he isn't careful." +</P> + +<P> +He just had time to observe the fact that there was a single individual +in the car, seated in the driving seat, and then what any experienced +motorist might anticipate happened. The car skidded; its nose shot to +one side, and Joe got a glimpse of it broadside. Then it swung round +again, slued across to the side of the road, turned completely till its +back passed before his eyes and was again replaced by the front. +Whereupon, with irresistible impulse behind it, it charged the bank, +ran up it and turned over with a thud, coming to a stop within ten feet +of the nearest beast, with its four wheels still spinning. Joe jammed +his hat firmly on to his head and raced towards the scene of the +accident. +</P> + +<P> +"Chap killed, I expect," he said. "Anyway, he's under the car. I saw +it come down over him; beastly place that corner! Besides, the fellow +was going too fast. His own fault; inexperienced, perhaps." +</P> + +<P> +It took him a matter of three minutes to reach the scene of the upset, +when he found the drover gazing at the upturned car as if spellbound, +his mouth wide open, his small store of intelligence utterly gone. +</P> + +<P> +"Drive the cattle into that field and then give me a hand," cried Joe, +seeing that he must give a lead. "Quick with it! The driver is under +the car, and we must get him out. Don't stand gaping, man! Bustle! +Bustle!" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to a gate near at hand giving entrance to a grass field, and +ran on to the car. The wheels were still spinning, at least those in +front were, while the back ones had come to a rest. A man's cloth cap +was lying just outside the car, while the lifting trap, which often +enough is fitted to the floor of the back part of cars, had swung +downward. Joe leaned over, thrust his head through the opening, and +peered beneath the car. There was a man's arm just beneath him, and +farther along he could see the rest of the unfortunate fellow's body. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" he called. "Hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +A groan answered him. He heard the late driver of the car gasping, +then he was answered in a weak voice, the words interrupted by gasps. +</P> + +<P> +"Wind knocked clean out of me," he heard. "Can't move; I'm pinned down +by the top of the front seat. Get the car off me." +</P> + +<P> +Joe moved rapidly; slowness was not one of his failings. He vaulted to +the other side of the car and peered beneath it; then he lifted his +head and gazed around. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" he called again, going to the opening he had used before. +"Where's the jack? Can I get at it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Back of the car," came the gasping answer. "Don't be long. I can +scarcely breathe; the whole weight of the thing seems to be on my +chest." +</P> + +<P> +Joe raced to the back of the upturned car, wrenched at the brass handle +which operated the lock of the cupboard usually to be found there, and, +tearing the door open, discovered a jumbled mass of rags, spare motor +parts, an inflator pump, and a lifting jack. He whipped the latter out +in the space of a few seconds, and darting round to the side of the +car, looked shrewdly at it. Then, careless of the damage he might do +to the coachwork, he placed the jack beneath the lowest edge, pushed it +into position and rapidly worked the lever which operated it. Slowly +he managed to raise the side of the car a matter of some three inches. +</P> + +<P> +"How's that?" he called. +</P> + +<P> +"Better," came the answer, in what seemed to be a tone of relief. +"There's not so much pressure on me now. But I'm pinned fast; I think +my trousers are under the other side. What'll you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Leave it to me," called Joe. "I'll not go away till you are released. +Still the car is a heavy one, and there are only two of us here. I've +told the drover to put his cattle into the field near by and then come +and help. Stay still, or you may jerk that jack out of place. I'll +get hold of the drover, and we'll see what can be done." +</P> + +<P> +"Be he killed, maister?" he heard, as he lifted his head. "He were +coming that tremendous fast, that I knew he'd smash. I hollered; but +it warn't no sort o' good. He just come round like a rocket." +</P> + +<P> +"He's alive, but pinned down by the car," Joe explained. "We must have +something to use as a lever. Look for a strong rail." +</P> + +<P> +They went together along the hedge seeking for something to suit their +purpose, and presently came upon two lengths of timber beside a stack +of hay. Joe led the way back to the car, running as fast as he could. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, we want something to use as a point for our levers," he said. "A +pile of bricks would be best, but there are none hereabouts." +</P> + +<P> +"How'll stones do?" asked the countryman, his mouth still agape. +"There be plenty jest here." +</P> + +<P> +Close to the gate there were quite a number of squared blocks which had +probably at one time been built as a support for the gate post. Joe +seized upon one, while the lusty drover brought a couple. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, let's consider the matter," said Joe. "With these long poles we +shall be able to lever the car up; but that isn't enough. We want to +turn her clean over. We want a rope." +</P> + +<P> +The driver had that, for a wonder. "I be one of those careful sort," +he explained, with a giggle. "Most times there ain't no need fer a +rope. But still I carries one, 'cos you never do know, now do yer? I +carries one in case there's a fretful beast. And here it is." +</P> + +<P> +Joe already had his plans made. There was a tree on the opposite side +of the road, within five yards of the upturned car. He took the rope +and made it fast to the far edge of the car. Then he carried the other +end to the tree, passed a loop round it, and beckoned to the countryman. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on," he said. "As I lever the car up, take in the slack and hold +fast. Mind you don't bungle, or that poor chap may be killed." +</P> + +<P> +A minute later he had his long lever in position, with the end well +beneath the edge of the car, and a pile of stones some fifteen inches +from the point of leverage. With such a pole as he had—for it was +fourteen feet long, perhaps—he had now tremendous power, and firm +pressure at the end first caused the pole to bend, and then lifted the +car with ease. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold on!" he shouted, and, obedient to the word, the drover hauled in +the slack of his rope. "Again! Once more! Now stand fast; that's +enough for the moment." +</P> + +<P> +By dint of careful effort Joe had now raised the edge of the car a +matter of two feet, and having built his stone fulcrum still higher, he +soon had the space beneath even greater. Waiting to see that the +drover had firm hold of his rope, he then dropped his lever, and, +stepping under the car, dragged the imprisoned driver out. +</P> + +<P> +"Much damage?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Shaken, that's all. Nothing broken, I believe. I've been feeling +myself all over. Arms all right, you see; legs ditto. Chest, er—yes. +No ribs broken, I imagine, though I feel as if I had been under a steam +roller. You're a fine fellow; I owe you a heap." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you rest there for a little," said Joe, dragging him to the +hedge, and well out of harm's way. "We'll turn the car right side up +if we're able." +</P> + +<P> +It was fortunate that at that moment two men came along the road in a +trap. Dismounting, they assisted in the work, and very soon the car +was righted, coming down on to her four wheels with a bump which might +have been expected to shake the engine out of her. But no harm was +done; beyond badly-bent mud guards, there seemed to be no damage. Even +the steering gear was unharmed. Joe busied himself with the engine, +threw the gear lever into neutral, and soon had the motor running. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take you along to the doctor," he said, going to the damaged +stranger. "Like to come?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can drive? Got a licence?" came the questions—and then, as Joe +nodded—"Right! Here's something for the men who helped; please thank +them for me." +</P> + +<P> +Two minutes later Joe was driving the car back into the town he had so +recently left. His first day's battle with the world had resulted in +an adventure. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER II +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +An Ocean Voyage +</P> + +<P> +"Not a single bone broken, I assure you," declared Dr. Tanner, when he +had thoroughly examined the stranger, to whose help Joe had so +opportunely come. "Bruises, of course; plenty of them. There's a +swelling here on the back of your head almost as big as a turnip. +You'd better rest quietly for the night." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but I have business to attend to," declared the stranger, who we +will at once introduce by his correct name of Hubbard. "I'm due in +Manchester to-morrow, then in Birmingham, and later in Coventry. I +can't sit down and rest." +</P> + +<P> +"You must, or take the consequences," answered Dr. Tanner, smiling. +"Come and have some tea. Joe, you join us; I've that yarn to have with +you about Canada. Now, Mr. Hubbard, what do you advise a young fellow +like this to do? He's not on his beam ends; far from it. He has a +little capital; but he's adrift as it were. Has no occupation, and no +means at present of earning a living." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I'll offer him work at once, work to last a week," declared Mr. +Hubbard. "Only a week, though, mind that, my young friend and rescuer. +I'm no great hand at driving a car, and after this accident I feel that +my nerve is shaken. Come along and drive the car. You managed +beautifully this afternoon. Come as a friend; I'll pay all expenses, +and give you three pounds into the bargain." +</P> + +<P> +"Done, sir!" It was characteristic of Joe that he accepted the post at +once. In fact, he leaped at it; for it was exactly to his liking. +</P> + +<P> +"But don't forget it's not a permanency, Joe," sang out the doctor, +lifting a warning finger and shaking it at him. "Permanent jobs are +the only posts for young fellows. They learn then to be useful, to +manage things. Temporary jobs lead to unsettlement. Besides, you know +the old adage, "a rolling stone gathers no moss". Moss is wealth and +position, all that makes for happiness, and you want to gather it with +both hands. Eh, Mr. Hubbard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Spoken like a wise counsellor," came the laughing rejoinder. "But you +began to speak of our young friend." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there he is," said the doctor, pausing in the act of pouring out +a cup of tea, and pointing to Joe with the spout of the teapot, "there +he is, employed at this moment as chauffeur to yourself, but likely to +be without a job in the course of a week. What are his prospects in +this country? Fair, we will say; for he is one of the steady lads. +What are his prospects in Canada or Australia?" +</P> + +<P> +"Depends; he's a worker, you say?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe flushed as he listened to this conversation that reflected on +himself, then he laughed good-humouredly. +</P> + +<P> +"A worker, yes; steady, certainly," replied the doctor. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Canada will brighten his prospects. I know the country; I'm +doing business for a firm out there, and so can speak with some +knowledge. Certainly Canada will improve his prospects. He's got +capital?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sixty pounds," said Joe, who was listening eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then forget it. Buy your ticket for the crossing, and then earn your +way. Forget the dollars till you've learned experience, then invest +them as you'll soon ascertain how to do. Bless us, but I wish I was in +his shoes! Think of the interest of such a life; think of the +enjoyment of working one's way up, of climbing higher! This humdrum +existence we most of us lead is tame beside such an opportunity for +flattering one's ambition." +</P> + +<P> +"In fact," asked the doctor, "you advise emigration?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I do," came the prompt answer, while Mr. Hubbard stirred his +tea. "Mind you, I don't say that there is no opportunity in this +country for youth and ambition. What I do say is this. Where a man +has no ties, where a young fellow has lost his parents, and has little +or no influence to start his career, then Canada calls loudly to him. +There he will make new ties, new friends, new hopes. There he can have +land for the asking, if farming is what he wants; and success is +assured, one way or the other, if only he will put his back into the +work. Of course, I know what you're going to say, Doctor," he went on, +arresting the latter's interruption with uplifted teaspoon. "Men come +back again; men fail. Of course they do; the lonesomeness of the long +winter gives the half-hearted the blues. Others attempt to follow a +vocation for which they were never suited. Weak men break down under +the strain. Slackers get deported; but young active fellows, with +pluck behind them, and with grit and strength and health, they make +good every time, sir. They help to form the backbone of Canada." +</P> + +<P> +Joe's eyes glowed as he listened. His cheeks took on a colour to which +they had been a stranger of late, since trouble had come upon him. He +began to wonder what life in Canada would be like. He leaned forward, +one hand at his cup, his eyes shifting from the doctor to this voluble +stranger. Moreover, Mr. Hubbard was no ill-looking man to watch; there +was eagerness and keenness written on every feature of his face. +Perhaps he was thirty-five years of age, perhaps even younger. But he +was shrewd and level-headed without a doubt, also he gave one the +impression that he was a man who had travelled far and seen much, and +who ventured his opinions only when he knew his subject. It was plain +that Canada was an open book to him. +</P> + +<P> +"The long and the short of the matter then is this," smiled the doctor, +vastly interested in his visitor, "you advise Joe to go." +</P> + +<P> +"I advise him to go, and I'll put him up to the ropes. There!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hubbard helped himself to cake, fixing his eyes sharply on our +hero; and Joe returned the glance unflinchingly. "You'll make good, or +I'm right out of my calculations," declared Mr. Hubbard, after quite a +long scrutiny of his features. "Then's the time when a man finds life +enjoyable, for he knows he's done well; he ain't got much to regret." +</P> + +<P> +That evening Joe heard more of Canada from his friend the constable. +He supped at the local hotel with his employer, and turned in early. +The following morning, after bidding farewell to the doctor and a few +others, he brought the car out of the yard, ran to the station, there +to pick up his box, and then came to a halt opposite the hotel door. +</P> + +<P> +"Been at work, I see," said Mr. Hubbard, surveying the car. "You've +straightened those mud guards and cleaned her. That's push; some +fellows wouldn't have thought of it. Others would have been too proud +to do the cleaning. Now let her hum." +</P> + +<P> +It does not require that we should follow the two on their trip about +the country. Suffice it to say that, thanks to previous experience, +Joe drove the car with ease and dexterity, a fact which his employer +had already noted. +</P> + +<P> +"And mighty lucky I am to have hit upon you," he laughed, as they +buzzed on their way to Manchester. "First, for the fact that you +dragged me out of my prison after that upset, and now because you were +free to come with me. I'm so stiff to-day that I couldn't have driven +had I wished, and I rather expect it will be a few days before I am +quite fit again. So it's a huge convenience, for my business wouldn't +wait." +</P> + +<P> +A week later the two ended their trip at Liverpool. +</P> + +<P> +"Where we see to this passage of yours to Canada," said Mr. Hubbard. +"Now, if you'll be advised, you'll go steerage. As you're emigrating, +best start in right at the beginning with the people who'll be +alongside you. I shall pay for your passage." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of Joe's protests, Mr. Hubbard insisted on doing this, and did +not finally say goodbye to our hero till he had seen him aboard the +Canadian Pacific liner which was to bear him to his destination. +Moreover, his gratitude to Joe took the form of an outfit as well as a +passage. +</P> + +<P> +"Clothes of every description are very dear out there," he said, "so +you'll want a kit with you. Everything warm, mind. That's the way. +In the hot weather you can leave off what you don't need; but in the +winter warm things are wanted." +</P> + +<P> +In the end Joe found himself with a strong box containing several +flannel shirts and underwear, a pair of high boots and two pairs of +strong nailed ones, socks in abundance, a suit of corduroy and one of +strong tweed, two neck handkerchiefs, a slouch hat, and various other +articles, not to mention a kettle, a teapot, a tin mug, basin, and +plate, with the necessary portable knives, forks, and spoons, and a +canteen containing tea and sugar and a tin of condensed milk. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks stupid to be taking all that rig, don't it?" asked Mr. Hubbard, +with a quizzical smile. "But then, you see, I've been through the +mill. You'll get to Quebec and then go aboard the train. Well, food +doesn't grow by the wayside nor on the cars. You've got to take it +along with you and cook whatever you want; so don't forget to buy up a +tin or so of sausages and such things. With those and the kit you've +got here you'll be in clover. Now, lad, there's the bell for +landlubbers to get ashore. Don't forget to give me a call one of these +days when you're round by Ottawa; and always remember to make good. +Goodbye!" +</P> + +<P> +Their hands met, they looked keenly into one another's eyes, and then +he was gone. Joe was alone again, alone upon the deck of a ship +swarming with people, but alone for all that; for everyone about him +seemed to have friends. He plunged his hands deep into his pockets and +whistled a merry tune; for if he were alone, Joe felt happy. The +fingers of his right hand nursed the banker's draft for those sixty +pounds he had banked; the fingers of his left handled the cash which +his liberal employer had paid him. His coat bulged to the right where +his father's letter was secreted, and somewhere on the ship was the +steel trunk which contained his kit. Alone! Joe scoffed at the +thought, and went on whistling merrily. +</P> + +<P> +"All ashore!" someone bellowed, while sailors ran past him on some +errand. The steam siren of the ship sent a wide spray of water over +the passengers, and then, as if thereby it had cleared its throat, it +set up a deep, reverberating roar that deafened all other sounds. The +deck thrilled and throbbed; the water right astern was churned into +milk-white foam, while the shore seemed to be moving. Joe leaned over +the side and waved frantically to Mr. Hubbard. Down below, he could +see a thousand faces. A thousand handkerchiefs waved frantically up at +him. Alone! Why, they all seemed to be friends; they all seemed to be +wishing him good fortune. Even the tall, stern waterside policemen +seemed to unbend and smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Hooray! Hooray!" shouted Joe, unable longer to restrain his +enthusiasm. "We're off." +</P> + +<P> +"Hooray!" came back from the throng on the landing stage. Then, as the +ship's head paid off to the pull of a tug, and another thrill went +through her as her turbines turned, the blaring notes of a trombone +came to the passengers. It was "Auld Lang Syne", and the tune sent +people sobbing. Joe watched a big fellow close beside him, and saw the +tears stream down his face. But the scene changed with the tune, and +that in an instant. It was "Rule Britannia" now, and the man was +standing erect and as stiff as a poker. +</P> + +<P> +"Old soldier," thought Joe. "Going out?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"To Canidy, yessir," came the answer. "Going out along with the missus +and the youngsters. Couldn't get work here in the old country. I +don't grumble, mind you. I'm not the one to shout out about aliens +crowding the likes of me out. It's the training that's wrong. I've +none; I'm good only for casual work and unskilled jobs, and there's +thousands more for 'em. But Jim—he's my brother—he went out this +five years ago, and he's made a pile already—a pile, sir, enough to +pay a passage for me and the missus and the children." +</P> + +<P> +There was hope in the honest fellow's face; he was looking with a glad +heart to the future, and no doubt at that moment was bidding farewell +to a past which, if not too pleasant and uncrowded with thoughts of +plenty and of enjoyment, at least had its touches of colour, its +memories, and its faces. +</P> + +<P> +By now the steamer was well in midstream, and the throb of the engines +was better felt. Not that your turbine leads to much vibration; but +still, with the horse-power possessed by these leviathans, it is only +reasonable that there should be some commotion. Joe walked to and fro +along the deck, and then began to feel hungry. He went to the +companion, a wide gap leading to the lower deck, and descended. There +was a woman halfway down vainly attempting to escort four children, all +of small stature. +</P> + +<P> +"Allow me," said Joe, and promptly picked up two of them. "Going out +to Canada?" he asked, though the question was hardly necessary, seeing +that that was the ship's only destination. +</P> + +<P> +"Winnipeg, sir," came the answer. "Husband went out a year ago; I'm +going to join him. Thank ye, sir!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe dived still lower into the depths of this monster ship, and found +himself in a huge hall with long tables set along the length of it. +Cloths were already laid, and there were mugs and plates in unending +rows, while dishes containing sliced cold meat were placed at +intervals. Already a number of people were seated, and Joe at once +took a place close to a respectable-looking couple. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon," he asked, bumping the man as he sat down. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"I apologized for knocking your arm," said Joe, flushing at the +bluntness of this individual. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, me lad, thank ye," came the hearty answer. "Only it sort of took +me by surprise. I ain't used to overmuch politeness; we don't seem to +get much time where I come from. Been out before?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe shook his head, and asked for the plate of meat and bread and +butter. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you're green?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe smiled. "As grass," he said briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"Going to work or to play?" asked this stranger, as he stuffed a huge +piece of cake into his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Work—got to; I'd rather, any day." +</P> + +<P> +"Farming?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's my intention," declared Joe, helping himself liberally. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll like it. I'll be able to put you up to the ropes. You're +going out just at the right time, too, for it'll be fine weather. Tea, +me lad?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe accepted with pleasure, and began to look about him. People were +beginning to swarm down into this species of dining-hall, and they +presented all sorts and descriptions. There was a party of men +shepherded by an official of the Salvation Army, a dozen or more young +married couples, and as many women going out to join their husbands. A +small regiment of Scandinavians passed by, and were followed by a crew +of Russians. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't look as if they'd had so much as a bath between 'em, do they?" +grinned his neighbour. "But they've been travelling these many days, +and most like have crossed over from the continent during the night. +They're the boys fer work. Give me a Russian or a Scandinavian on the +farm. They earn their dollars and don't grumble. Now, lad, if you've +not been aboard one of these ships afore, you'd do well to settle your +bunk and take possession of it. There's a couple of likely youngsters +along here that we know of. They've come from our part of the world in +England, and they're decent fellows. Maybe you could pitch upon a +cabin fer three. If not, you'll have to sleep in the bunks out in the +open. Jim and Claude," he called, "here's a mate fer ye; get right +along and fix your bunks." +</P> + +<P> +Joe liked the look of the two young fellows instantly. They were about +his own age, and better dressed than many. He exchanged a smile with +them, then, having finished a meal which was excellent, to say the +least of it, and undoubtedly plentiful, he accompanied his two new +friends to the sleeping deck. Here were rows of canvas bunks suspended +on steel uprights and cross pieces, the whole looking clean and compact +and comfortable. At the vessel's sides were cabins of considerable +size, and, since they were amongst the first on the scene, they had no +difficulty in securing one to accommodate the three. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be fine and comfortable in there," said one of the young fellows +named Claude. "We'll bring our things along just to prove possession. +Shouldn't leave anything about if I were you; for there might be a +thief aboard." +</P> + +<P> +Joe took the warning to heart, and so that there could be no danger of +a robbery where he was concerned, went to the purser promptly and there +deposited his banker's draft, his father's precious letter, and the +majority of the loose cash he possessed. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let's have a look round, and see if we can do anything to help," +said Jim, leading the way to the upper deck. Here they found a +seething crowd, for the ship was packed with emigrants, to say nothing +of her complement of first- and second-class passengers. She +presented, in fact, a good-sized township, with facilities for dealing +with every class of business, of which catering was not the least +important. In the centre of the crowds of emigrants our hero was soon +attracted to a railed-in space wherein was a mass of sand, and in this +a number of children were digging. Elsewhere men lounged and smoked, +while women sat on their worldly possessions, many of them looking +forlorn and lost. +</P> + +<P> +"Give them two days to settle down, and all will be happy and +contented," said one of the stewards who happened to be passing. +"We're going to have a smooth crossing, so that will help." +</P> + +<P> +He pushed his way through the throng and dived down below. A +stewardess followed him, and others came bustling after her. Officials +now were engaged in inspecting the tickets of the passengers, while a +summons brought the emigrants in a long waiting queue to a table set in +the dining-hall, where one of the doctors with an assistant took +careful stock of them, particularly to observe whether or no each +person had been recently vaccinated. +</P> + +<P> +Joe was glad to creep into his comfortable bunk that night, as it had +been a day of movement; but a good sleep did wonders for him, and when +he rose on the following morning he was as fresh as paint. +</P> + +<P> +"How do yer like it?" asked the pleasant fellow, close to whom he had +sat on the previous day when he descended for a meal; for, following a +habit on emigrant steamers, he took the same place at table. +</P> + +<P> +"There's something interesting all the time," said Joe. "This sea air +gives one an appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"Then peg in, lad," came the hearty advice. "Here's tea; help yerself. +Here's eggs and bacon, or will you have sausages?" +</P> + +<P> +The meal was an eye opener. No doubt there were many poor fellows +aboard who had not sat down to such a breakfast for many a long day, +for we must recollect that emigrants are not always prosperous when +they set out from the shores of Old England. It made Joe wonder of +what size was the storeroom on this ship, and how it was that the +purser or his assistants managed to gauge what would be required <I>en +route</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you jest come along on deck with me and the missus and have a yarn +while I smoke. Do yer smoke?" asked the man who had been so friendly. +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet," was Joe's blushing answer. +</P> + +<P> +"And a good thing too. Not that I'm against it, seeing that I smoke +hard, and most of the day. What's yer name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Joe Bradley." +</P> + +<P> +"Mine's Sam Fennick. Sam's enough, and Joe'll do fer you. You ain't +been out before, you say. Who's sent you?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe was a confiding fellow, and told him his story; for Sam seemed an +excellent friend and listened with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"What'll you do?" he asked. "You'll land up in seven days, or perhaps +eight, at Quebec. There you'll go before the emigration authorities, +and will be examined again by the doctor. If all's well, you can start +right off on your own, providing you've sufficient dollars in your +pocket to make 'em sure you won't be a pauper. Paupers ain't what +Canada wants. She wants men with a little cash, not much—just enough +to keep the wolf away for a few days. But above everything, they must +be workers. And the Government over there won't have slackers. She +deports 'em double quick. Well, what'll you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Look out for a farm," said Joe; "but where, beats me." +</P> + +<P> +"Then jest you think of New Ontario. It's the coming country. Now, +see here, mate; I'll give yer a piece of advice. You get along down +from Montreal. Accept a job on a farm, and stay there till the winter. +Then have a turn with the forest rangers. They don't do much in the +winter, it's true; but a few are kept going. Or you might go along +with a gang to a lumber camp. It'll keep you from rusting. Next +spring you could work again on a farm, and come the following cold +weather you ought to be able to look to yourself. We're off to seek a +location in this here New Ontario." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why couldn't I come with you?" asked Joe, for he liked the look +of this Sam Fennick. +</P> + +<P> +"And so you shall, but not at first. It'll take us best part of two +months to find a likely location. Then we've to make a heap of +arrangements, so I doubt our getting to at the job till late in the +year. So you'd better fix elsewhere; you can come along when we're +ready." +</P> + +<P> +It may be imagined that Joe spent many an hour discussing matters with +Sam, and soon began to long for Canada to heave in sight. However, +there were many miles of sea stretching between the ship and the Gulf +of St. Laurence, and they were not passed before he was involved in +another adventure. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER III +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Volunteers called for +</P> + +<P> +It was rather late on the third morning of the voyage when Joe had his +attention attracted to one particular portion of the huge ship in which +he had taken passage to Canada. Not that this one particular portion +had escaped his notice; for, like the majority of young fellows +nowadays, our hero was certainly quick at observation. +</P> + +<P> +"Them things hum and squeak and flicker most of the day," said Sam +Fennick, withdrawing a somewhat dilapidated brier pipe from his mouth +and pointing the bowl at a deck house situated on the upper deck. +"What's it all about, youngster?" +</P> + +<P> +"Marconigrams coming and going," answered Joe; for the little house +alluded to was given up to that recent wonderful invention which allows +of messages being sent across space, without the aid and intervention +of the customary wires. "The young officer there used to live in our +neighbourhood. I once thought of becoming an operator myself, and, in +fact, had many lessons from him." +</P> + +<P> +"You had?" asked Sam, staring at Joe; for every hour that the two +conversed revealed to Sam that Joe was a little better than the +ordinary. Indeed, it is only reasonable that we should be fair, and +admit that in coming to such a conclusion Sam was strictly right. +After all, emigrants are not made up of the most intelligent or of the +highest educated of our population. Too often they are men and women +seeking a new life because of the failure of that which they had +previously followed; or they are young people with a fair education, +and with little else. In Joe's case, thanks to his own restless +ambition, and to the fact that his father had devoted many an hour to +him, the lad was acquainted with much unknown to the average emigrant. +And here was something. To Sam a marconigram was neither fish, flesh, +nor fowl; he didn't precisely know what it was, whether it had actual +shape, nor what was its colour. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" he asked. "You know the chap as works up there? And you've had +lessons? What's a marconigram, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe explained with enthusiastic lucidity. +</P> + +<P> +"I've sent 'em, too," he said. "There was a station not so far from +us, and that's where I met Franc. It's nice having him aboard the same +ship. But he is busy, isn't he? There must be something happening out +of the ordinary. Wish I could go up there and join him; but it's +forbidden. He told me that particularly." +</P> + +<P> +It was only natural that our young hero should wish to see something of +a chum associated with former days. But Franc, the young Marconi +operator, was never get-at-able when on duty. It was only between the +spells of work in his office that he met Joe down on the emigrant deck +for'ard. Now, at the time when Sam and Joe were together, Franc was +undoubtedly busily engaged. Moreover, there was a subdued air of +mystery, if not of anxiety, about the officers who occasionally passed +amongst the emigrants. +</P> + +<P> +"What's up?" demanded Sam bluntly of one as he passed. "That thing +yonder"—and he again withdrew his pipe and pointed the bowl at the +Marconi office—"that thing's busy, I guess. Sending messages as fast +as the air'll take 'em. What's up, mister? Revolution back in the Old +Country, eh? What?" +</P> + +<P> +He received merely a curt answer; the officer hurried on, leaving Sam +none the wiser. +</P> + +<P> +"All the same, there's a ruction stirring somewhere," he said; "I can +see it with half an eye. The captain's walking up and down his bridge +as if there was lions after him. What's it all mean?" +</P> + +<P> +It became clearer, as the hours passed, that there was something +seriously wrong in some direction, though where or what the trouble +might be none could guess. Joe descended with his friend to dinner, +and it was not till he mounted to the deck again that he gained tidings +of what was happening. A huge column of pungent smoke was rising from +the fore hold of the ship as he gained the deck, while sailors were +moving about with wet cloths tied round their mouths. +</P> + +<P> +"A fire down below," said Sam, with a catch in his voice. "Lor'!" +</P> + +<P> +"Fire!" shrieked one of the passengers, a woman, as her eyes lit on the +smoke. Then the alarm was echoed from a hundred quarters. Men came +rushing up into the open. Women screamed, and one huge fellow, a +Russian by his appearance, came rushing across the deck and cast +himself into one of the boats. +</P> + +<P> +"Silence!" commanded the captain through his megaphone, coming to the +front of the bridge. "Quartermaster, turn that man out of that boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, aye, sir!" came from a burly individual, already advancing on the +spot in question. "Now then," he said, when he had reached the boat, +"you hop out, quick." +</P> + +<P> +But the Russian was not inclined to do so. Terror had taken firm hold +on him, and he sat clutching the thwarts, heedless of the quartermaster +and of the fact that the boat sat firmly upon its guides on the deck, +and offered as yet no sort of protection. But he remained there for +only a minute, for the quartermaster hopped over the thwarts, seized +the Russian by his coat and by the seat of his trousers, and threw him +out without ceremony. +</P> + +<P> +"Passengers," called the captain, in a voice so steady that he might +have been inviting them to dinner, "there is nothing as yet to be +alarmed at. Please go on with your work or your pleasures as if +nothing were happening. I call upon every man and woman to set a good +example, remembering that there are children amongst us." +</P> + +<P> +That was enough. Men who had run forward with alarm written on their +faces went back to their wives and children at once. Others gathered +into anxious knots and went on with their pipes, while the children, +unconscious of their danger, romped about the decks. +</P> + +<P> +"All the same, it's a ticklish business," said Sam, after a while. +"They've got the hatches off, and I expect they're trying to clear out +the stuff that's afire. That looks bad, for as a rule they'd leave the +hatches on and turn steam sprays on to the burning cargo. Perhaps the +sprays can't get at the stuff that's afire." +</P> + +<P> +"In any case, the crew won't be able to continue for long at the work +unaided," added Joe. "Look! There's one overcome by the smoke; +they've carried him off along the deck to the doctor." +</P> + +<P> +In the course of the next hour four men were rendered incapable by the +pungent smoke issuing from the hold, while the smoke itself had become +even denser. Huge clouds arose through the hatchway and, caught by the +breeze—for all this while the ship was forging ahead at her fastest +pace—went billowing out behind her. So dense, in fact, was it, that +the passengers for'ard could not see the bridge nor any other part of +the giant vessel. +</P> + +<P> +"Want volunteers?" asked Joe of an officer hurrying along the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" came the curt and hurried answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want any help?" repeated Joe. "There are plenty of us who +would be eager and willing. That would free the men who are needed for +the usual work of the vessel." +</P> + +<P> +"Well now, that's a fine idea. See here," said the officer hurriedly, +"I'll get along to the skipper and ask him what his wishes are. Of +course he may say he's right as things are, but then the 'Old Man' may +think differently. Meanwhile, you get a few likely chaps together. If +they're wanted, everything'll be ready." +</P> + +<P> +He went off at a quick pace, striding over the deck, and Joe saw him +clambering to the bridge, where he sought the anxious captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" demanded Sam, for the idea of volunteers being called for had +never occurred to him. "What'll you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Get a few men together at once," said Joe. "You stop here, and I'll +send 'em over to you. That'll allow them to gather without creating a +fuss. Anything is likely to increase the uneasiness of the passengers, +and we don't want to add to the alarm they already feel." +</P> + +<P> +He left Sam smoking heavily by the rail and went off amongst the +passengers, who, in spite of their efforts to remain calm, were +obviously filled with alarm. For if huge clouds of smoke had been +coming from the open hatch before, it was billowing out now in vast +volumes, smoke, too, which set everyone on the bridge choking, for +there was a slight headwind, and the breeze the ship herself made in +her rapid passage through the air helped to carry the smoke backward. +As to the first- and second-class passengers, they had been driven to +take shelter on the lower deck right aft, and were therefore entirely +invisible. Joe accosted Jim and Claude, the two young fellows who were +his cabin companions, and, whispering to them, sent them over to Sam. +In the course of some ten minutes he had selected a couple of dozen +young fellows, all of whom he had chatted with at various times during +the past two days. That, indeed, is one of the curious results of +travel aboard a ship. One becomes acquainted with one's fellow +passengers during the first day; their inner history is often known by +the evening of the second; while, long before the trip is ended, often +enough their innermost thoughts, their ambitions, and their hopes are +the property of one or other of the many friends they have made on +board. In any case, Joe was the sort of lad who makes friends quickly. +Free from that stupid side which sometimes afflicts the youth of this +and other countries, he had a welcoming smile for everyone, and was +ready to exchange his views with Dick, Tom, or Harry. It was not +remarkable, therefore, that he had already become acquainted with a +number of young fellows, bachelors like himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll choose them in preference to the married men," he told himself. +"The latter have pluck and dash enough, I know; but they have wives and +children, and their services will be required by the families. Hi, +Bill!" he called to another of his chums, beckoning him, "volunteers +are likely to be wanted to help the sailors. Are you——" +</P> + +<P> +"Right!" declared the man abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then get across to Sam Fennick; he's away over there at the rail. +Just go on smoking as if nothing out of the way were happening. Got a +good-sized handkerchief in your pocket?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no; I ain't got that," admitted Bill, after hunting about his +person. +</P> + +<P> +"Then get off to the cabin steward, or to the purser, if you can find +him, and ask for three dozen towels. We can easily get a bucket of +water up on deck, and that will give us the right thing to put round +our mouths." +</P> + +<P> +It was perhaps five minutes later when Joe went sauntering back to Sam. +Quite a couple of dozen men had already congregated about him, and +stood for the most part lolling against the rail and smoking +contentedly; but there was not one who was not watching the smoke +issuing from the hatchway critically. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me as there's more of it, and it's kinder hotter," said Sam, +almost in a whisper, as Joe came to his side. "Well, you've got the +boys together, and the right sort too. Now, if I'd been asked, I'd +have been flummoxed from the very beginning, and as like as not I'd +have chosen the wrong sort." +</P> + +<P> +"They're all single men," answered Joe. "Married men will be wanted to +set an example of coolness to the passengers and allay their fears. +Has that officer come along again? Ah, here's Bill! Well?" he +demanded, as the latter came over to him with a bundle beneath his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Got 'em easy," panted the latter. "A steward gave 'em to me right +off. Now?" +</P> + +<P> +He asked the question in excited tones and in a loud voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep cool, and don't speak too loud," Joe cautioned him. "We want a +bucket of fresh water. Who'll get it?" +</P> + +<P> +Jim went off promptly, and when he returned some three minutes later it +was to meet the officer coming towards the group. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," said the latter, singling Joe out, "you're the young fellow that +spoke about volunteers. Well, now, the skipper says that he'd be glad +of 'em, but they must be carefully selected—single men only, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"How'll these do then, mate?" asked Sam, swinging his open palm round +so as to embrace the little band of men Joe had selected. "This here +young chap"—and he pointed to our hero—"seems to have the right ideas +always tucked away at the back of that head of his. You'd no sooner +gone than he was away selecting his men. Every one of 'em single, too, +'cos he says as the married 'uns must be calm, and set all the rest an +example. And he's got towels for every man, and a bucket o' water here +to soak 'em in. Spry, ain't it?" +</P> + +<P> +For perhaps a whole minute the officer looked Joe coolly up and down. +Indeed, at any other time his open inspection might have been +interpreted as a rudeness. But there was something more than mere +curiosity in his eye. He stretched out a hand sailor fashion and +gripped our hero's. +</P> + +<P> +"You're young," he said bluntly, "but you've the right sort of pluck, +and a headpiece with which to back it. Bring your men along; I like +the look of 'em. But first to explain. This fire's been going ever +since two in the morning. It's somewhere in a lot of cotton goods +right under a heap of other cargo, and try as we have we can't stifle +it. Nor can we get at it with our sprays. So we're attempting to move +the other stuff, and then we'll pitch what's alight overboard or swamp +it with water from the hoses. It's the smoke that's the trouble. You +come right along." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way to the hatchway, Joe and his men following, while almost +at once a crowd of steerage passengers massed themselves along the rail +which cut them off from that part of the deck, and detecting the object +of the little band, and realizing that they were volunteers, sent up a +hoarse cheer of encouragement. +</P> + +<P> +"Just you skipper the lot, youngster," said the officer, turning when +close to the hatchway. "Keep those not at work below well to windward, +then they'll be able to breathe easily. You can see that the skipper's +put his helm over, so as to blow the smoke more abeam, for the people +aft could hardly breathe. Now, you come down with me and I'll show you +what's wanted; then you can set your men to at it." +</P> + +<P> +Joe damped a towel in the bucket of water and tied it round his mouth +and nose. Then he followed the officer over the edge of the hatchway, +and gripping the iron ladder which descended vertically, soon found +himself standing some thirty feet below on a pile of huge boxes. +</P> + +<P> +"Machinery, and heavy stuff too," said the officer, taking him across +to a part where there was little smoke. "Now, you can see for yourself +whereabouts the fire is. The smoke tells you. Ah! there's another man +done for!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe's surroundings were indeed sufficient to cause more than the usual +interest, for the scene was filled with movement. Overhead the square +of the open hatchway framed a beautiful if confined area of blue sky, +across which a few white clouds were scudding. But it was not always +that one could see this view, for huge columns of smoke issued from the +hold in front of him and went swirling up, to cease entirely at moments +and then to gush forth again, for all the world as if someone were +stationed in the depths amongst the cargo and were using a gigantic +bellows. For the rest, a couple of huge reflectors threw the light +from a number of electric bulbs into the hold, though without any +seeming effect, for the dense smoke made the darkness almost +impenetrable. Here and there a man rested well to one side, his mouth +bound up with a handkerchief, while deeper in, entirely invisible, were +other men. One heard a shout now and again and the clatter of moving +boxes. Overhead, too, dangled a rope swinging from a derrick. It was +at the precise moment when Joe's quick eye had gathered these details, +that a couple of men came into sight staggering across the boxes and +bearing a man between them. +</P> + +<P> +"Dropped like a rabbit, he did," gasped one of them, as they placed the +man on his back on one of the boxes. "Went down jest as if he'd been +shot. Above there! Lower away." +</P> + +<P> +A head appeared in the opening of the hatchway, while a second later a +cloud of smoke shot upward, hiding the head and setting the owner +coughing. But the derrick above swung over promptly, and the rope +descended. +</P> + +<P> +"You two men get to one side and rest," said the officer. "I and this +friend here will see to the man. Now," he went on swiftly, "lend a +hand while I pass the rope round this poor chap. That's the way. Now +steady him while I go aloft. You'll get your men down as you want 'em." +</P> + +<P> +He had already spoken to an officer on duty down below, and now went +clambering upward. A moment later Joe was guiding the unconscious body +of the sailor as he was hoisted upward. Then, cramming the towel close +round his nose and mouth, he dived into the clouds of smoke till, aided +by the electric light, he saw an officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I bring some of the men down now, sir?" he asked. "I've two +dozen up above, all ready to lend a hand. I thought it would be best +to employ them in two batches." +</P> + +<P> +The officer, a young man of some twenty-five years of age, rose from +the box he was helping to lift, coughed violently, and then accompanied +Joe back to the part directly under the hatchway. +</P> + +<P> +"My word," he gasped, when at length a violent attack of coughing had +subsided and allowed him to speak, "we'll be glad to have you. That's +hot work in there. You've two dozen, you say? Then bring along half +of them; they'll be mighty useful." +</P> + +<P> +Joe went swarming upward at once and, arriving on the deck, promptly +told off twelve of the men. He was down again with them within a few +seconds, at once leading them forward to where the work was in progress. +</P> + +<P> +"That you?" asked the officer, peering at him through the smoke and +coughing. "Then get to at these boxes. We're pulling them aside, and +till we've got a heap more away we shan't be able to reach the spot +where there's fire. When we do, things won't be so easy. There'll be +a burst of smoke and flames, I should imagine." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'd better have the other half of this gang ready with sacks and +blankets damped with water," cried Joe. "A hose wouldn't stop the +fire, and the water would do a heap of damage. Eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're the boy!" gasped the officer. "That's an idea; will you see to +it?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe nodded promptly, and then set his gang to work to help the sailors +already employed in moving the cargo. Dashing away as soon as he saw +that they understood what was required of them, he swarmed up to the +top of the hatchway and called loudly to one of the gang above. +</P> + +<P> +"Find one of the officers if you can, or, better still," he said, "go +along to the purser. Ask for twenty or thirty old blankets. Take a +mate or two with you and bring the lot along here; then swamp them with +water. When you've got them ready have them slung down into the hold. +You've followed?" +</P> + +<P> +The young fellow nodded eagerly. "Got it pat," he declared, swinging +round. "I'll be back inside ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +Joe slid down below without further waiting, and, joining his men, +attacked the cargo with energy. Half an hour later, perhaps, after a +bulky parcel wrapped in matting had been dragged from its place, a +sudden burst of smoke drove the workers backward. It was followed by a +hot blast of air and then by tongues of flame. +</P> + +<P> +"Looks bad," declared the officer, rising to his feet from the box on +which he had been seated; for he was taking a well-earned rest. +"There's stuff below there that's well alight. Look at that! There's +smoke and flames for you." +</P> + +<P> +"And we'll need to drown the fire at once," cried Joe. "I'll bring the +other gang down and set them to fight it." +</P> + +<P> +Once more he clambered over the boxes from the dark depths of the hold +and, gaining the open space beneath the hatchway, shouted loudly. At +once a head appeared, and another call brought the second half of his +gang tumbling downward. +</P> + +<P> +"Each of you take one of the damped blankets," said Joe, standing +beside them. "See that the towels are well over your mouths and noses, +and then follow me. We've got to the seat of the fire, and have to do +our best to damp it out. Now, follow one after the other." +</P> + +<P> +Seizing a blanket himself, he led the way till within twenty feet of +the spot where the last bale had been torn out of its position. The +workers whom he had left had been driven backward to that point, and +were crouching down with their heads as low as possible, coughing and +choking as dense masses of smoke swept about them. Joe saw red tongues +of flame, and at once, without hesitation, advanced on the spot, +holding the blanket before him. But if he imagined he had an easy +task, he was quickly to learn that he was mistaken. The choking clouds +of pungent smoke which swelled past him and hid him from the men was +the least part of the difficulty. It was the heat which threatened to +defeat his efforts. For a hot blast surrounded him. He felt of a +sudden as if he had plunged into a furnace, while his nostrils burned +as if he were inhaling flames. Then the blanket, in spite of its +soaking, steamed heavily and began to shrivel. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward!" Joe commanded himself. "This is not the time to give back. +Push on and get your blanket down right on the spot where the cargo is +alight." +</P> + +<P> +Pulling himself together, as it were, and summoning all his energies, +Joe dashed forward over the uneven flooring, the heat wave about him +increasing in intensity. A gust of hot air, an intensely burning +breath gripped him, while lurid flames swept past him on either hand. +Even the wetted blanket showed signs of giving way before such an +ordeal, for one corner curled upward and then burst into flame. But +Joe was a stubborn fellow. He was not the one to be beaten when so +near the goal, and half stifled and roasted he pushed on, cast his +blanket over a spot which appeared to be white with heat, and trod it +down manfully. He retreated then as fast as he could, followed by a +dense smoke which made breathing impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"Next!" he shouted, when he could speak. "Don't stop. We must pile +the blankets on as thick as possible." +</P> + +<P> +It says much for the courage of those steerage passengers that not one +of the volunteers hesitated. Helped by the members of the crew, to +whose aid they had come, they rushed forward pell-mell, casting the +wetted blankets over Joe's; then, having trodden them down, they +retreated before the dense smoke which drove them out. They sat in +groups and anyhow, gasping beneath the open hatchway, some of them even +having to beat the fire from their clothes. +</P> + +<P> +"We've fixed that fire, I think," gasped the officer at last, for the +smoke seemed to be less intense. "If so, it's the luckiest thing I've +ever encountered." +</P> + +<P> +"Wait," cautioned Joe. "That smoke's more pungent. That looks as if +the fire were still burning." +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes later it was clear that he was right; for flames suddenly +shot out at the gang of workers, scorching their hair and driving them +backward. Nor was it possible to advance again with wetted blankets. +For an hour the gallant workers struggled to subdue the blaze by +throwing water from a couple of hoses into the hold. But that effort +too proved useless. It was clear that the fire had got beyond control, +and that the safety of the passengers depended on the ship reaching a +port very soon, or coming in with another vessel. Then, and then only, +did the news circulate that Franc, the young Marconi operator and Joe's +friend, had been placed out of action. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just broken up our chances," groaned the officer who had been +working beside our hero. "That fellow has been calling for four or +five hours so as to get in touch with another vessel. But there was +none within reach fitted with the Marconi apparatus. Now he's fallen +down the gangway, and lies in the doctor's quarters with one leg broken +and himself unconscious. It's a regular bad business." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER IV +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Joe Gathers Credit +</P> + +<P> +"All passengers come aft," shouted the captain as Joe and his gang, +together with the sailors, clambered out of the reek of heat and smoke +and ascended from the hold. "All passengers must collect their +belongings at once and come aft of the bridge. Be quick, please; we +can allow only ten minutes." +</P> + +<P> +Blackened and singed by the heat, with their clothing scorched and +actually burned in some places, Joe and his helpers came up through the +hatchway and almost fell upon the deck, for they were exhausted after +their long fight in a stifling atmosphere. Then the hatches were +thrown on and wedged down. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to leave things like that," said the officer to whom Joe had +first of all suggested that volunteers should be called for. "We shall +turn on the steam sprayers and hope that they, together with the want +of air, will kill the fire. You've done well, young fellow. The +captain's been asking for your name. But just you hop along right away +and gather your traps, else you'll lose everything." +</P> + +<P> +In a little while it began to look as if our hero might lose even more +than his belongings, or rather that the loss of his kit would be of +little moment to him; for the fire in the hold, which perhaps had been +little more than smouldering before, now blazed out with redoubled +fury. Indeed, it was not long after the steerage passengers had gone +scampering aft, dragging their children and their belongings with them, +that the deck right for'ard became almost too hot to walk on, while the +sides of the ship were red-hot. +</P> + +<P> +"The deck'll fall in soon if this goes on," said the same officer, +accosting Joe as he came aft. "I've known a steamer afire keep moving +till she reached port, and then she was red-hot from end to end. But +we've a steel bulkhead just on a level with the bridge, and I guess +that's keeping the blaze forward. So it'll be the fo'c'sle that'll be +burned out, and that deck'll fall in before long. Then the blaze'll +become worse. You fellows were grand; you did your best for us. Now +you come along to the captain." +</P> + +<P> +They found that anxious officer striding up and down the bridge, as if +there were nothing to disturb him. But there were perhaps a thousand +eyes upon this chief officer of the vessel, and, knowing that, he set +an example of wonderful sangfroid. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you greatly," he said, as the officer brought Joe on to the +bridge. "Mr. Henry has told me how you raised volunteers, and likely +volunteers too, and Mr. Balance has reported how well all behaved. I +thank you, sir, in the name of the ship's owners and her crew and +passengers. It's a nasty business." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, sir," answered Joe, blushing at the receipt of such praise. +"I was wondering whether I could be of further service." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Why, yes; but how?" asked the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking of your Marconi operator, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Ah, poor chap! That's the most unfortunate thing that could have +happened. But—I don't quite follow," said the captain, looking +closely at Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Only I knew him well, sir, and often worked with him. I've frequently +sent a Marconi message. There's no great difficulty if you are fond of +mechanical things and have learned the code. I worked hard at it, as I +thought once of going into the Marconi service." +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce you did!" came the sharp answer, while the skipper of this +huge ship, with so much responsibility on his shoulders, turned a deep +red colour beneath his tan and whistled shrilly. "You can—but you +don't mean to tell me that you could handle his apparatus, that you +could call up and talk with a ship if she happened to be within reach +of us?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see the things and I'll soon tell you," said Joe quietly, +feeling nevertheless somewhat nervous lest his recent lack of +experience should have resulted in forgetfulness. For it must be +remembered that although a code such as is used by Marconi and other +telegraphic operators becomes second nature, and is as easy to them as +is writing to the average individual, yet such codes with want of +practice soon become forgotten. Joe might have forgotten; want of +practice might have stiffened his wrist. His "transmitting" powers +might be now so cramped and slow, that an operator "receiving" aboard +some other ship would not pick up his message; also, the converse might +well be the case. His ear, unaccustomed now for some little while to +the familiar sounds so particular to a telegraph instrument, might fail +to pick out the meaning of dot and dash coming across the waves of +ether so rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me have a look into the office and also a talk with Franc. He'll +tell me what is the company's usual call. I'm not so cocksure of being +able to send and receive for you, sir; but I can try, and I think I'll +succeed." +</P> + +<P> +"That's fifty times better than being dead sure and failing miserably," +cried the captain. "I'd sooner by a lot have a fellow tell me he'd +try, than go off full of assurance and conceit. Of course you can see +the operator. But he's hurt badly; they tell me he was stunned. Take +him along, Mr. Henry." +</P> + +<P> +It was a fortunate thing for the passengers aboard the vessel that Joe +found his friend able to speak and understand. Indeed, the unfortunate +Franc was fuming and fretting on account of the injury that had come to +him; not because of the damage he had suffered, or of the pain, which +was considerable, but because of his helplessness and the ship's dire +need help. He raised his head as Joe entered, then called out gladly. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I'd forgotten you entirely, Joe!" he almost shouted. "I might +have remembered that you knew the code and had worked the +'transmitter'. Get right along to the office and call up help. We +want a ship to come over and take off the passengers, and then stand by +while we run on into port. Here, I'll give you the company's call." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes with his friend told Joe sufficient to send him along to +the Marconi office full of assurance, and within a quarter of an hour +the apparatus, silent since Franc came by his damage, was flicking and +clicking again, causing a thousand and more anxious pairs of eyes to be +cast upward at the raking masts and at the web of wires suspended +between them. +</P> + +<P> +"There's an answer," he told Mr. Henry, when he had sent the call +across the water on a dozen and more occasions. "Wait till I can say +who it is. What am I to tell them about our position?" +</P> + +<P> +The officer at once wrote down the ship's approximate position on a +piece of paper, while Joe tapped on the key and listened to the +receiver. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell 'em we've fire in number one hold, and are almost roasted," he +said. "Ask 'em to come along and take off our passengers, unless she +happens to be steering the same course, when, if she'll run on beside +us, there may not be need to transfer the passengers. Ah, she's +calling you." +</P> + +<P> +Rapidly did Joe get accustomed to the apparatus. No doubt he could +neither send nor receive a message at the same rate as his injured +friend; but if the messages were slow and laboured, and not always too +correct, they were accurate enough for his purpose. Indeed, it was not +long before he was able to send a long dispatch to the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"S.S. <I>Kansas City</I> answered us," he wrote. "She's steering +west-north-west, and on a line to intercept us. Doing fifteen knots +and a little better. She's a hundred miles away, and will look out for +us. She sends that she's bound for Halifax." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll suit well," said Mr. Henry, coming back from the bridge and +the captain. "She ought to fall into company with us about midnight or +early in the morning, and, of course, if there's need, we can slow down +or stop altogether, while she turns north and runs direct up to us. +But we can see this thing through till morning. By then the +fo'c'sle'll be little better than an ash heap. It'll be a case of +clearing the passengers and then fighting the flames, or the ship'll go +to the bottom. See over here; it's worth looking at, if only to +remember." +</P> + +<P> +He took Joe out of the office to the rail of the vessel and then drew +his attention to the steel plates for'ard. If they had been of a dull +red heat before, they were now of a bright redness, while flames were +actually issuing from some of the lower portholes. As for the deck, it +was a smouldering mass of blackness, to which a thin cloud of smoke +clung tenaciously. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd want thick boots on to walk across it," said Mr. Henry, "and +then you'd never know when it might fall in and take you into a +furnace. I tell you, a fire aboard ship is almost as bad as one in the +forests of Canada. Ever heard tell of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never," replied Joe, shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Then they're bad, real bad, and you've to move quick if you want to +live through one. Now aboard a ship you can batten things down, just +as we've done; or you can rouse up some of the cargo, get a hold of the +stuff that's alight, and heave it into the water. That's what we tried +and failed to do. Now there's nothing more but to wait till we join +company with the <I>Kansas City</I>. Reckon there's a crowd of people will +be glad to say goodbye to this vessel." +</P> + +<P> +A saunter between decks proved that rapidly to our hero. Not that +there was any great alarm or any marked sign of uneasiness. People +congregated in little bunches; men stood lounging and smoking together, +talking in eager, low voices. Here and there a woman was weeping; but +there were few who showed less courage than the men, and, indeed, not a +few displayed noble devotion. +</P> + +<P> +"How's things going?" asked Sam, accosting our hero and whispering his +question. "They tell me you've been up with the captain and have been +working the Marconi office. You'll come in for something, me lad. +Guess the skipper of this ship did a lucky thing when he booked you as +a passenger. But what's happening?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe told him in a few words. "We've got into contact with another +ship," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Which means that you have," answered Sam, catching him up abruptly. +"Give things their right names, lad. But there, I've seen it with you +afore. It's jest like Joe Bradley to leave himself out of the +question. So you've got talking with another vessel?" +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Kansas City</I>," Joe explained. "She's steering a course south of +us and almost parallel. She's coming north a little of her course, and +should reach us early in the morning. If need be, and we cut off +steam, she could come due north and get alongside before midnight even." +</P> + +<P> +"Then that's a bit of news that'll help people," said Sam, satisfaction +in his voice. "I'll go and tell folks about here. Truth is, there's a +few got the jumps bad, but we've give 'em a lesson. Jim and Claude and +me, when we all came aft, saw that one or more of them foreigners was +likely to prove troublesome. We found some of 'em packing their kit in +the boats and pushing agin the women; but I fetched one of 'em a smack +that'll make him sit up fer a fortnight, while when a bunch of +'em—low-down rascals, as I should name 'em—got out o' hand and went +howling along towards the officers' quarters with the idea, it seems, +of putting their dirty hands on the skipper and forcing him to quit the +ship and put 'em aboard the boats, why, me and some of the boys you got +together went for the beggars. There was a proper turn-up between us, +and there's a few nursing their heads at this moment; but it jest +settled matters. You see, the best of the foreigners came in and +joined with our party, and what with that and the hiding we gave these +fellows, why, things has quieted down wonderful. Only, of course, +there's anxiety; a chap can't be altogether easy when he's sailing on a +red-hot furnace, with miles of sea about him." +</P> + +<P> +There was, in fact, wonderful order and coolness displayed on the ship, +and nowhere more than amongst the emigrant passengers. Indeed, all +vied in endeavouring to keep up the courage of the women and to leave +the officers and crew of the vessel to carry out their work unimpeded. +As for Joe, he spent the next few hours in the Marconi office, keeping +in constant touch with the <I>Kansas City</I>, and every hour he was able to +report that she was nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better send along and ask her to make slick up here," said Mr. +Henry, as darkness closed about them. "Some of the plates for'ard have +burned through, and the air rushing in is making the fire blaze up +terribly. The skipper is going to shut off and lie to. It's the only +way of saving the vessel." +</P> + +<P> +He handed Joe a written message, which the latter transmitted through +his instrument, reporting in turn that the other ship had now changed +her course and was coming direct toward them. Meanwhile the burning +vessel was brought to a standstill, the throb of her engines ceasing +save for an occasional thrill, as one or other of the screws was +rotated so as to keep the stern always before the wind. The bugles +rang out for tea almost at the accustomed hour, and, to the amazement +of many, the emigrants found food and drink ready for them, but not in +the same quarters. They were now huddled together, without cabins and +without bunks to lie in, except in the case of the women and children, +who, thanks to the unselfishness of the first- and second-class +passengers, were accommodated in the cabins previously occupied by +single gentlemen. +</P> + +<P> +It was near midnight when at length a loud booming in the distance, and +the turning of a brilliant light upon them, intimated to the people +aboard the burning ship that the <I>Kansas City</I> was within reach of +them. A deep cheer broke from a thousand lips, while many people burst +into tears. Then Joe and his little band were again requisitioned. +</P> + +<P> +"The captain's compliments," said Mr. Henry, "and he wishes that you +will organize the men again, so that there may be no confusion when +embarking the women. Get double the number this time if you can, and +place them in batches near every boat. The stewards will help, and +between you it ought to follow that there will be no confusion. But +there's never any saying when you have to deal with foreigners." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Sam's my man this time," thought Joe, going in search of that +worthy. "If between us, as Mr. Henry says, we can't keep order, why, +what's the use of us at all? Ah, there he is! Sam!" he called loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"Going to tranship us?" asked the latter. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; women and children first. They've asked me to organize double +the number of helpers. Let's call out the old lot. We can select the +others very quickly; a few Russians and Scandinavians amongst them +would help greatly. Ah! There's Jim, and Claude with him. Boys!" he +called, waving to them. +</P> + +<P> +It may be imagined that the work of selection was not accomplished in a +minute; for with the coming of the relief ship there was huge confusion +amongst the emigrants, as also amongst the first- and second-class +passengers. The courage of many, bravely shown through a number of +trying hours, broke down suddenly. Men, and women too, who had set a +fine example to their fellows, were seen to lose their heads and their +coolness. Passengers dashed to and fro, bumping into any who crossed +their path, while one or two became absolutely violent in their efforts +to push nearer to the spot where the gangway would be lowered. +However, Joe and his friends were soon collected together, and then, +with Sam's help, a body of forty or more was rapidly selected. +</P> + +<P> +"You tell 'em off; you've the orders and hang of what's wanted," said +Sam, lighting his pipe for perhaps the twentieth time. +</P> + +<P> +"Then break up into parties of five," said Joe. "Now get along to the +boats, five to each. Don't let a soul enter unless you have the +captain's orders. Sam, you and I will help the stewards; I see that +they are already ranging the women and children into lines. Some of +the poor things look half-distracted." +</P> + +<P> +The ordeal was indeed a severe one for many on board, and rendered not +a few of the women completely helpless. However, what with the help +that the stewards gave, aided by the stewardesses and Sam and Joe, the +long lines were soon quieted. Then, beneath the flare of huge electric +lamps, the work of transferring women and children to the <I>Kansas City</I> +was conducted, the latter ship lowering her boats for that purpose, +while those aboard the burning vessel were reserved for a future +occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"Men now," shouted the officer standing at the top of the gangway; and +at the order the men aboard filed slowly downward and were taken off, +till none but the crew, the stewards, and Joe and his gang remained. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," called Mr. Henry, seeing our hero and his party, "your turn." +</P> + +<P> +Joe walked directly up to him, with Sam at his side, while the captain +descended from the bridge at that moment and joined them. +</P> + +<P> +"We volunteer to stay," he said. "We've talked it over. It seems that +now that the passengers are gone, particularly the women and children, +you will tackle the fire again. You will want help for that. We're +game to stay. We'd like to stand by till this job is finished." +</P> + +<P> +"And, by George, so you shall!" cried the captain, bringing a hand down +on our hero's shoulder and almost flooring him. "By James, sir, so you +shall stand by us! A pluckier lot I never hope to run across, and I've +never seen men better handled. You, sir, Mr. Joe Bradley, I understand +is your name, and this other gentleman whom you call Sam, have behaved +with conspicuous gallantry. I can tell you, gentlemen, it means much +to the officers and crew of a vessel such as this is if, when a pinch +comes, when danger faces them, there are men at hand to quieten the +foolish, to reduce the would-be rioters to subjection, and to fight the +danger side by side with the crew. It means a very great deal. Often +it means the difference between security and disaster. Stay, +gentlemen—we are about to fight those flames again, and you can help +us wonderfully." +</P> + +<P> +By now the <I>Kansas City</I> had sheered off a little, lying to some three +or four hundred yards from the blazing vessel, which presented a truly +awful appearance, for in the darkness her red-hot plates shone +conspicuously. Lurid flames belched from her lowest ports forward, +while at one part, where the plates had burned through, there was a +wide ragged gap through which a veritable furnace was visible. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to flood the fo'c'sle," said Mr. Henry, as he stood beside +Sam and our hero. "The carpenter, 'Chips', as we call him, is +hammering up a staging at this moment, and when that's popped into a +boat a man will be able to reach that opening where the plates have +gone. We couldn't do it by lowering a seaman over the side, for the +simple reason that the deck away for'ard is far too hot to allow anyone +to walk on it. So we shall try from the sea. At the same time, we +shall pull off the hatches and pour water in amongst the stores till +they're flooded. You come along to the hatchway. It's not likely that +we'll be able to go down. But later on, if we're fortunate, we might +be able to do so, and so get closer to the fire." +</P> + +<P> +Working without confusion, and indeed in no apparent haste, the crew +soon pulled the hatches off the hatchway. Meanwhile a pinnace had been +lowered, and into her the carpenter had built a species of platform +raised some ten feet above the thwarts. Peeping over the side, Joe saw +that there was a crew already aboard her, while men were paying out a +ship's hose over the rail, where there was no heat and therefore no +danger of the hose burning. In a little while two lusty fellows were +perched on the top of the staging, and, operating the nozzle of the +hose together, were directing a stream of water in through the ragged +gap which existed for'ard, and which we have already mentioned. By +then, too, Joe and his friends had contrived to get three hoses going +through the hatchway, though their efforts seemed to be little rewarded. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not reaching the actual seat of the fire, and the place is so +huge that even a flood of water fails to swamp the flames," said Joe, +as Mr. Henry came along to see how they were progressing. "There's one +thing helping us, and that is the absence of smoke. I suppose the +stuff which sent out that pungent smoke has got burned, and there is no +more of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Shouldn't wonder," came the answer. "As to reaching the fire, you +must just keep at it. This hatchway is too hot yet to allow a man to +clamber down the ladder." +</P> + +<P> +It was decidedly hot, for when Joe put his hand on the iron ridge which +surrounded the open hatch he withdrew it with a sharp cry. Indeed, the +metal was almost red-hot, while a fiery heat as from a furnace +ascended, cooled a little perhaps by the sprays of water sousing in +from the hoses. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe a fellow could reach the fire if only he could get below +there and bear the heat," said Joe, perhaps half an hour later. "Look +here, Sam, I'm going to make an effort. I'll tie a noose in the rope +from the derrick, sit in it, and then get lowered. The men can play a +hose on me while I'm descending, and even when I'm down below. Let's +see if I can bear it." +</P> + +<P> +A shout from Sam brought Mr. Henry, and an order from the latter soon +secured a long length of steel cable with strong electric lamps at the +end of it. At his suggestion this was made fast to the wire rope, in +which a wooden seat was fastened. Then Joe stepped into the noose, +gripped the rope and the hose, and called on the engineman to lower +slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to trouble about the electric lights," called out Mr. +Henry. "They're well insulated and perfectly watertight. The only +thing that will damage the cable is the heat. Raise your arm if it's +too great for you. We'll haul you up in a jiffy." +</P> + +<P> +Out swung the rope, and Joe with it. For a while he was dangled well +above the open hatchway, with a sheer fall of forty feet beneath him, +and a glowing furnace somewhere in the hold for'ard. Whisps of smoke +curled up about him, while the heat was almost stifling, but not so +severe as it had been when he and his helpers had attacked the flames +at closer quarters. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-072"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-072.jpg" ALT="JOE ATTACKS THE FIRE AT CLOSE QUARTERS" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +JOE ATTACKS THE FIRE AT CLOSE QUARTERS +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Lower away," he shouted, and then nodded to Sam to turn his hose on +him. "Keep the water going, and start my hose," he called to those at +the edge of the hatchway. "Now, slowly does it." +</P> + +<P> +Very gently the engineman slacked out the rope running over the top of +the derrick, causing Joe to slowly disappear within the open mouth of +the hatchway. Meanwhile those in charge of the hoses paid the one out +which Joe carried, and Sam, as if he were bent on doing his young +friend an injury, sent a stream of water squirting against our hero +till the latter was drenched, and till the force of the impact of the +stream caused him to sway and twist at the end of the sling. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady!" he shouted. "Less water; you'll drown me!" and, obedient to +the order, Sam shouted to the men and saw that the stream was reduced. +He sent a cascade downward now, for Joe had descended still lower, +causing the water to fall on his shoulders and then go tumbling and +hissing to the floor beneath. And, thanks to this deluge, and to the +water spouting from the hose he carried, Joe was able to prepare the +way before him. He could hear the fluid actually hissing, and see it +rising in thick clouds of steam as it fell on iron and woodwork. It +bubbled as it tumbled in a heavy cascade on huge masses of +tightly-packed machinery directly beneath him, and then it began to +settle into quiet pools. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady!" he shouted again. "Hold on till things get a little cooler." +</P> + +<P> +But ten minutes later he called to them to lower away, and in a little +while had stepped from the sling and was actually advancing into the +hold. A sailor joined him, and then Sam, both filled with enthusiasm. +There were five hoses going within the hour, while another was all the +while directing a powerful stream through the gap forward. Smoke gave +way in time to steam, while the clouds of the latter, which had risen +from every heated surface, and particularly from the vessel's plates, +became far less in quantity. When three hours had passed, the +atmosphere in the hold was almost pleasant, and certainly not too hot +for safe working, while the fire appeared to have been conquered +entirely. Then the ship's head was turned towards the west, and once +again her turbines sent the decks throbbing. They came to Sam and Joe +in the bunks which they occupied and told them of it; for the intense +heat which they had faced, the stifling smoke, and the strenuous fight +they had made had had their natural effect. Both had been hoisted from +the hold in an insensible condition. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" asked Sam. "She's right? Fire under? Then call me late in the +morning. I've never yet travelled first class aboard a ship, and this +bunk's just lovely. Hallo! That Joe? Eh? He's unconscious? Well, I +am sorry; guess there's many a one will say he helped a heap to save +this vessel." +</P> + +<P> +They slept profoundly side by side, and the sun was high in the heavens +before either opened his eyes. When Joe looked round, it was with a +groan of recognition and remembrance. His hands were blistered all +over and in bandages. His face was smeared with some greasy +preparation, while there no longer trace of eyelashes, eyebrows, or +hair. He was bald—a terrible object—with lips and tongue hugely +swollen. +</P> + +<P> +"My word," exclaimed Sam, staring at him, "what a sight!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe giggled. After all, however tired, however sore with a struggle, +he could look on the queer side of things. "My eye!" he gurgled, for +speech was almost impossible. "Just you take a look at yourself; it'll +make you feel downright faint, I do assure you." Then he went off into +a laugh, which ended in a cry of pain and tribulation, for cracked and +swollen lips make laughing painful. As for Sam, he rose in his bunk, +leaned outwards, and stared into the mirror. It was with a groan of +resignation that he threw himself backward, for, like Joe, he was +wonderfully disfigured. +</P> + +<P> +"The wife wouldn't know me," he said. "What a sight! No wonder you +giggled." +</P> + +<P> +But time does wonders for sore hearts and sore heads. Five days later, +when the ship put into Quebec, both were moderately presentable, though +Joe still had his hands in bandages. But think of the reward! A +thousand and more disembarked passengers from the steamship <I>Kansas +City</I> awaited their arrival and cheered them to the very echo as they +landed. It was Joe's welcome to Canada, the land wherein he trusted to +make his fortune. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER V +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +One of the Settlers +</P> + +<P> +"Now we get right in to business," said Sam, two days after the ship +had brought them to Quebec, and he and Joe had gradually recovered +their usual appearance. For, till then, they were hardly presentable, +both having had every hair singed from their heads, while Sam, who wore +a moustache, as a rule, merely retained a few straggling ends of that +appendage. As for Joe, his hands were so blistered, that even now he +was able to do little for himself. +</P> + +<P> +"But you've got something inside there in your pocket that'll make +amends," grinned Sam, as they sat in the parlour of the little hotel to +which Sam had taken his wife, and whither Joe, Jim, and Claude had +accompanied them. "You've got notes in that 'ere pocket that'll make +you ready and eager to get burned again. There! Ain't I speaking the +truth? I'm fair jubilant." +</P> + +<P> +A cockney from his birth upward, Sam had not, even now, lost touch with +the Old Country and its manner of speech, though into his conversation +there was now habitually pressed many a Canadian slang expression, many +an Americanism which to people of the Old World is so peculiarly +fascinating. He pulled a huge leather wallet from his own hip pocket, +a capacious affair that accommodated quite a mass of material, and was +fellow to one on the far side harbouring a revolver. Not that Sam was +of a pugnacious frame of mind; on the contrary, he was just one of the +numerous citizens of Canada whose daily thoughts were centred in +"making good". Indeed, as is the case with all in the Dominion, with +few exceptions, Sam was out, as he frankly admitted, to make a pile, to +build up a fortune. +</P> + +<P> +"And I'll tell you for why," he had once said to our hero. "It ain't +only because dollars look nice and can buy nice things. It ain't only +because I'd like to be rich, to put by a heap and feel and know that me +and the missus needn't want when the rainy day comes along, and we're +took by illness or old age. Don't you go and believe it. There's +people will tell you that Canadians think and dream of nothing but +dollars, and jest only for the sake of the dollars. Don't you go and +believe it. They're jest like me; they've been, many a one of 'em, +down on their beam ends in the Old Country—couldn't get work, for one +cause or another. Then they've emigrated, fought their way through, +nearly gone to the wall maybe, and then made good. It's making good +that fascinates us, young feller. Making good! Jest that and mostly +only that. I'd be a proud man if I could put by a pile; for, don't yer +see, it shows as I've succeeded. That's what I and many another are +after. We've been failures, perhaps. We want to show the world that +we're good for something. Dollars spells success—that's why we're +after them all the time." +</P> + +<P> +But Sam was not pugnacious, as we have observed. He dragged his huge +leather case from one hip pocket and his revolver from the other, +laying both on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"I always carry a shooter," he said to Joe, "and so'll you after a bit. +The usual run of fellow you come across is a decent, hard-working man. +But this here country's full of 'bad men', as we call 'em. +Ne'er-do-weels, remittance men, as some are known, loafers, and +thieves. A chap as shows he's got sommat to defend himself with has a +good chance of sendin' 'em off; so I carry a shooter. But we was +talking of the stuff you'd got in your pocket, same as me. That makes +up for burned hands." +</P> + +<P> +Very deliberately he began to count out the values of the flimsy, +blue-backed money notes rolled in his wallet, while Joe dived into an +inner pocket and did likewise. He drew out quite a respectable bundle +and counted the amounts also. +</P> + +<P> +"Two hundred and fifty dollars," said Sam solemnly. "Reward for work +done aboard the burning ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Seven hundred and fifty dollars," murmured Joe, blushing when he +thought of the amount. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so—reward for pluck and fer gumption," declared Sam. "My, +wasn't you bashful up in the office when we was called in! You was for +refusing almost. Said as you'd done nothing. That ain't the way of +Canadians, lad. You did do good work; it was you who organized the +volunteers and led 'em. That's a deal. It ain't nothing! It helped a +whole heap, and therefore a reward was earned. That's the way in +Canada—but let's get to business. What'll you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Act on advice you've already given," said Joe, pocketing his money. +"My idea is to learn farming out here, and some day to take up a +quarter section of land. But I'm going to learn the work first. I +couldn't so much as milk a cow at this moment." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so," observed Sam dryly. "That's sense, that is. There's +prosperity in this country, as I've told you often enough, but only for +the workers. There's millions of acres, too, and no fear that if you +wait you'll find none left for you. But where men fail is if they come +out ignorant like you and pitch upon a quarter section when they ain't +got the knowledge to choose their country. Their difficulties would +often enough kill a man with farming knowledge; but, bless you! without +even that knowledge, often enough with precious little money, they goes +under almost afore they've had time to look round. So I say it's sound +advice to you to say, 'Learn the farming work first'. Then take up +your quarter section; for you'll be eighteen by then. Now, New +Ontario's booming. Me and the missus will make there and prospect for +a little. A single man can take a hundred acres in New Ontario for +nothing. So can a married man; while, ef he's got a child under +sixteen years of age, he can have two hundred fer the asking. Any more +that's wanted costs two shillings and a halfpenny an acre. Cheap, +ain't it? Wall, now, we comes again to you. You learn farming this +summer. In the winter, get along into the towns and take most any job; +next summer come right along to us. We'll have fixed a location by +then, and you can take up a holding close handy. We'll get Claude and +Jim in too, with one or two others, and we'll run co-operative farms. +That is, instead of each man having a bunch of hosses, we'll keep +enough for all, and help plough each other's holdings. We'll buy seed +in bulk and get it cheaper fer that reason. And we'll sell our stuff +in the same market, making one doing of the transport—so you come +along next summer." +</P> + +<P> +"I will," agreed Joe. "I've thought it over a lot, and will do as you +advise; meanwhile, I shall bank most of the money." +</P> + +<P> +"And mighty wise of you; only, see here," said Sam, his face wrinkling. +"There's money to be made often enough by a wise fellow if only he has +a little capital. With the sixty pounds you brought along, and the +hundred and fifty you've been given, you've a tidy nest egg. Now you +bank most of it, keeping twenty pounds for emergencies. One of these +days, along where you're working, you'll drop on a site where the +railway's approaching, and where there's likely to be a town. Towns +spring up in new countries like mushrooms. Acres bare now, and worth +perhaps two shillings, are worth twenty and thirty and more pounds in +English money within a few years if they gets covered by a town. So, +likely enough, you may drop on sich a place. Then draw the money +you've banked, buy your land, and sit down to wait. Only, don't put +all the money into one holding. Spread it about, young fellow. Don't +put all the eggs into one basket." +</P> + +<P> +There was little doubt that Sam was perfectly right, indeed, the +experience of huge numbers in the Dominion goes to prove that. Towns +do spring into being almost with the rapidity of mushrooms. A tiny +settlement composed of wooden huts, called "shacks", and perhaps a log +church, may, in the matter of three or four years, develop into a town, +and, later on, even into a city. Those with knowledge and experience, +and possessed of far-seeing eyes, may, by a fortunate purchase in the +early days reap a big reward, and many a one has done so. +</P> + +<P> +"So that's fixed," said Sam. "And now fer orders. We leaves here +to-morrow fer Sudbury—that's beyond Ottawa. There me and the missus +gets off the train. We'll buy a "rig", as a cart and horse are known, +and we'll make off to the north-west looking fer a holding. You'd +better come along with us to Montreal, where you can switch off fer +Toronto, and look out in that direction fer a farm job, or you can come +right along to or beyond Sudbury. Round Toronto you get Old Ontario, +the country that's been known and settled this many a year. They're +mostly fruit and dairy farmers about Toronto. North-west Ontario, New +Ontario as it's called, is a different country. People kinder missed +it till lately. It wasn't known that it was jest as good as many +another, and no colder. But it's booming now, and there's where you'll +find heaps of men jest wheat-growing. You could, of course, go right +along to Manitoba, getting off at Winnipeg or somewheres close. But +it's wheat-growing land there also; so ef you're going to join up with +us later on you might jest as well stay somewheres near in Ontario." +</P> + +<P> +Joe put on his cap and went out for a sharp walk. He clambered up the +steep, old-fashioned streets of Quebec, still preserving their old +French houses, to the Plains of Abraham, once the scene of a fierce +engagement between English and French, when the gallant Wolfe won +Canada for our Empire from the equally gallant Montcalm. He looked out +from the heights across the flowing St. Lawrence River to the Isle +d'Orleans, where Wolfe's batteries once thundered against the forts of +Quebec, and past which the fierce Irroquois Indians, in days long since +gone by, paddled their war canoes and kept the French colonists from +crossing. And all the while he debated his future movements, for with +the practical mind that his father had helped to train in him, Joe +wanted to see his way clear. He had his future to make; a false step +now might delay that success at which he aimed, at which, according to +the worthy Sam, all newcomers and old colonists of the Dominion aim. +Let those who would sneer at the seemingly grasping methods of many in +Canada not forget what Sam had to say. Dollars do not spell happiness; +they spell success. The immigrant who has few, if any to speak of, on +arrival, and who fails to make wealth, is a failure, and failure causes +a man to become despondent and to lose self-esteem. But gain, riches +to one who was poor, who broke from old paths, left home and friends +and all to start a new life, dollars in his case spell success, success +that raises his head and his own self-esteem. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go along to Sudbury," Joe told himself. "Then I'll look out for +a farm, and I'll bank all the money save fifty dollars. That's it; pay +for my transport, and then bank all but fifty dollars, keeping father's +letter with me." +</P> + +<P> +The following morning found our hero aboard the train bound for +Sudbury. They occupied places in a long car with two rows of seats, +one on either side. At the far end of the car there was a miniature +kitchen, where a fire was burning in a stove. Others who had crossed +from England were with them, and the party soon settled down to their +journey. Mrs. Fennick, with experience gained by earlier travel, had +provisioned a basket, and with the help of Joe's kit, containing kettle +and teapot, the little party were never at a want for good things to +eat and drink. At night the seats, which were arranged in pairs facing +one another were pulled out, making a respectable couch for one person, +while the negro attendant lowered other bunks hinged to the side walls +of the enormous car high overhead. +</P> + +<P> +Late the following day the train pulled up at Sudbury, and they got +down. Then Joe, Claude, and Jim waited till the Fennicks had bought a +rig and had set out on their journey, when they, too, shouldered their +bundles and strode off along the track, out of the town and into the +open country. An hour or more later his two companions had accepted an +engagement with a farmer whom they met driving along the track. Joe +bade farewell to his two chums and strode onward. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make away more into the open," he told himself. "I'll get away +from the settlements, so as to see what the life is really like, and +whether the loneliness is so irksome as some make out." +</P> + +<P> +Trudging along contentedly, he had covered some miles by noon, and then +sat down to devour his luncheon. All that day he tramped, and the +following one also, spending the night in the open; for it was +beautiful weather, and frosts had long since departed from the land. +Here and there he came upon settlements, and many a time was employment +offered him, for the busy season with farmers was at hand, and labour +always scarce. Sometimes he passed isolated farms, and on the third +night put up in the shack of a settler who had little cause to complain +of his progress. +</P> + +<P> +"Came out as a youngster," he told Joe. "Took jobs here and there for +four years, and then applied for a quarter section. It happened to be +free from trees, though there was many an old rotting stump in the +ground. I ploughed a quarter of the acreage the first year and secured +a fine crop. Next year I did better, and broke up still more ground. +If things go along nicely I shall do well, while already the section is +worth some hundreds of dollars. Am I lonely? Don't you think it! +I've too much doing in summertime and sufficient in winter. The chaps +as is lonely are those who've lived in towns all their lives, and are +used to people buzzing about them, and to trains and trams. They want +to go to a theatre or a picture entertainment most every night, and +having none about find things lonesome. I don't. If I want company I +get the rig and drive off to a neighbour, or use the sleigh if the +snow's too deep. Then there's a moose hunt at times, while always +there's work to be done—tending the cattle, feeding the pigs and +poultry, sawing logs, and suchlike. In summer there's picnics with the +neighbours—shooting and fishing too at times. No, I ain't lonely." +</P> + +<P> +Joe left his hospitable roof and pressed on towards the north-west, +with his back to the railway. And a little later he came upon a small +settlement, with farms immediately adjacent. Here he had no difficulty +in obtaining work as a farm hand, the payment to be ten dollars a month +and his board and keep. +</P> + +<P> +"Know anything?" asked his employer, a man of some forty years of age, +a colonial born, to whom Joe soon took a liking. +</P> + +<P> +"Know anything about farming?" repeated Peter Strike, the man in +question. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," was Joe's answer, with an accompanying shake of the head. +</P> + +<P> +"Never farmed, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never; couldn't milk a cow." +</P> + +<P> +"Yer don't say so," grinned the farmer. "Now you'll do, you will, +fine." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was at a loss to understand. It seemed somewhat curious to him to +hear that a hand engaged on a farm would do well when it was known that +he was utterly ignorant. He explained the difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you don't understand," said Peter, guffawing loudly; for +Joe's open speaking delighted him. "Of course you don't, 'cos back in +England a man would be expected to know everything. But I'll tell you +how it is with us. You're English; wall, now, in past years Englishmen +got such a name with us colonials that we wouldn't employ him if we +could help it. Eh? You'd like to know why? That's easy. Your +Englishman would reach here dressed in knickers, perhaps—a regular +swell. Us colonials with our old clothing would be fair game for him. +Then he'd know everything. He'd be wanting to do things as he'd done +'em back in his own country, and not as we've learned they has to be +done here. He'd want to teach his master, and grumble—my word, +nothing pleased him! Now that's all getting altered. We find +immigrants readier to learn, and you're one of 'em. Mind you, there's +faults with others besides the Englishman who knows everything. +There's faults with us. There's a sight of colonials who think they +know more than they do, and when they get having advice from a man +fresh out to the country—why, they get testy. It makes 'em angry. +They ain't too fair to the newcomer. But guess that's getting altered, +as I've said. Anyway, you don't know anything, ain't that it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," laughed Joe; for the open-hearted Peter amused him. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you come along in and see the missus and the children. +Afterwards there's a job for you." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was introduced to Peter's family circle, consisting of his wife and +four small children. He found the shack to contain three rooms, a +somewhat liberal allowance. +</P> + +<P> +"Most of 'em has but one or two," explained Peter. "A man who has to +be his own house builder can't afford too much time for fixing rooms. +However, I made two, the kitchen here and the bedroom. Later on I +built a lean-to, making an extra room. That'll be for you. Now we'll +feed. Like beans and bacon?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anything," said Joe heartily. "I've had a long tramp and am hungry. +This fine air gives one an appetite." +</P> + +<P> +"It's jest the healthiest place you could strike anywhere," cried +Peter, his face glowing. "We've been here this four years. I bought +the section from a man who had broken most of it and then got tired. +You see, we've prairie all round, save for the settlement close handy. +They say that the railway'll soon be along here. Anyway, there's no +muskegs (swamps) hereabouts, and therefore no mosquitoes to speak of." +</P> + +<P> +"He don't know what's a muskeg," laughed Mrs. Strike. "Tell him." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a swamp, that's all," came the answer, "and there's miles of them +in Canada. Often enough they're covered with low bush and with forests +of rotting trees that ain't worth nothing as timber. But here we've +open prairie, with plenty of wood, and huge forests at a little +distance; so it's healthy. Now, you come along out and fix this job," +he said, when Joe had finished the meal and had swallowed a cup of tea. +"I'm so busy I haven't had time to see to a number of things, specially +since my man was taken ill and left. There's the pigsty, for instance; +it wants cleaning out. You jest get in at it." +</P> + +<P> +Joe had long since donned his colonial outfit. He wore a slouch hat, +with which no one could find a fault save for its obvious newness. An +old pair of trousers covered his legs, and thick, nailed boots were on +his feet. His jacket he had carried over his arm, and it was now +reposing with his baggage, while a thick brown shirt and a somewhat +discoloured red handkerchief completed his apparel. He followed Peter +to an outhouse, and found at the back a range of wooden pigsties which +might, with truth, be said to be in an extremely unsavoury condition. +There was a fork and a spade near at hand, together with an old tin +bucket. +</P> + +<P> +"Right," he said briskly, turning up the ends of his trousers; "I'll +make a job of it. I should say that a chap who had no knowledge of +farming could do this as well as any other. I'll come along when I've +finished." +</P> + +<P> +Peter stood watching his new hand for some few moments, and then strode +off out of sight. Joe turned his sleeves up, climbed into the sty, and +set to work with a will. +</P> + +<P> +"Not an overnice job," he told himself, "but then it's part of farming +work. If I turn up my nose at this sort of thing and think myself too +good for it—why, that would be a nice sort of beginning! Someone has +to clean the sties on a farm. I'm the labourer, and so it's my job." +</P> + +<P> +His jovial whistle could be heard in the shack as he worked, and +brought Mrs. Strike to the door with an infant in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's the new hand," she told her husband. "He's whistling, as if +he liked the job you'd given him. Now I think that was a little hard. +You can see as Joe's a better sort of lad. He's had an education, and +I wouldn't wonder if he was something in the Old Country. And you put +him right off to clean out the sty." +</P> + +<P> +She regarded her lord and master with some severity; but the latter +only grinned. Peter had a most taking face; in fact, his features were +seldom severe, and more often than not wore a smile. He was a tall, +burly man, with broad shoulders and long limbs. Possessed of fair hair +and of a peaked beard, he was quite a handsome fellow, though +wonderfully neglected as to his raiment. Indeed, contrasting Joe and +Peter, one would have said offhand that the latter was the labourer and +Joe the owner of the property. +</P> + +<P> +But that is just the curious part of things outside the settlements in +Canada. The more patched a man's garments, the more probable it is +that he is successful. A colonist is not there judged by his fellows +because of his clothing. He is judged by results—results of his +labours on the soil or his astuteness in business. Compare this with +England, where fine clothes make fine birds, where appearance is of so +much importance, and do not let us sneer at either people. Custom has +brought either condition about, and no doubt with good reason. +</P> + +<P> +As for Peter, he was grinning widely as his wife turned somewhat +sharply upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"You've given him right off the nastiest job, and he quite green," she +said. +</P> + +<P> +"And I've done so with a reason," laughed Peter. "There's men I have +hired before who had obviously seen something better back where they +came from. They would have kicked at doing that sty. They would have +forgotten that their old life was nothing to me, and that they were +seeking their living in this country. Their old pride would be too +much for 'em, and I would have to suffer. Now a chap who comes out +here has to drop pride. If he's ignorant, he oughtn't to be above +starting right at the bottom. I like hearing that lad whistling; he +ain't too proud to earn an honest living, even if the job is what it +is." +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo!" he called, coming over to Joe some half-hour later and looking +into the sty. "How're you doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fine," said our hero, borrowing an expression somewhat common in the +Dominion. "Almost finished." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you've been mighty slippy," admitted Peter, his eyes opening when +he saw that our hero had indeed almost finished the task. "This lad'll +do for me," Peter said to himself. "He works, he does. He's the kind +of fellow who likes to get ahead, whether he's working for another or +for himself. My, if he ain't washing the place down now!" +</P> + +<P> +Evidently his new hand was cleanly also, and that was pleasing. Peter +began to think that in gaining Joe's services he had made quite a +bargain. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll fix it right, lad," he sang out. "You've made a fine job of +it. Jest you hop out now, and put the fork and spade back where you +found 'em. It's yer first lesson in farming and in other things." +</P> + +<P> +Joe looked up smiling. "Eh?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," went on Peter, "Mrs. Strike's been pitching into me for giving +you such a job first off; but I wanted to see for meself whether you'd +kick, or whether you meant to get on whatever came along. Reckon +you'll do—now come along in and feed the hosses." +</P> + +<P> +When a month had passed, Joe found another ten dollars added to the +fifty he had kept by him; also he had settled down wonderfully with the +Strikes, and was already getting along with his farm work. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a treasure is that lad," admitted Mrs. Strike warmly, when she +and her husband were alone one evening. "It don't matter what it is +that's wanted, he'll do it. If it's one of the children to mind, he'll +smile and wink at the bairn. If it's water for the shack, he's +willing. And if it's a log for the stove, he jest takes the saw and +goes off whistling. That lad'll get along in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"He's fine," agreed Peter. "He's the sort we want out from the Old +Country." +</P> + +<P> +Whether he was or not, Joe had taken kindly to the new life, without a +shadow of doubt. His attentive mind was constantly absorbing details +from the garrulous Peter or from his neighbours, and the end of that +month's service on the farm had taught him quite a smattering of the +profession he was to follow. As for being lonely, that he certainly +was not; he was almost too busy even to have time for thinking of such +a matter. Then, too, there were neighbours, while each shack actually +possessed a telephone. However, if there were monotony in the life he +was living, it was not long before an exciting incident occurred that +would have aroused anyone even more lethargic than our hero. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER VI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Canadian Bad Man +</P> + +<P> +"You jest put the hosses into the rig and make along to Hurley's," said +Peter, Joe's employer, one early morning when the land was already +ploughed, harrowed, and sown, and there was little to do but tend the +animals and await the growth of the wheat crop, upon which Peter +anticipated so much. "And don't stop longer than you need, lad. He's +a bad man is Hurley, one of England's ne'er-do-weels, who came out +years ago, and has now taken to farming. I've lent him a seeder this +two seasons, and he hasn't returned it. Jest hitch it on to the back +of the rig and bring it along." +</P> + +<P> +"And you can take something from me along to Mrs. Hurley," said Peter's +wife, who was one of those kind-hearted colonists one so often meets. +"She's a poor, down-trodden thing, and most like she doesn't have too +many of the good things. Here's butter for her, and eggs, and a leg of +pork." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was by now quite an adept at the management of the rig, and soon +had his horses harnessed in, an operation of which he had been +supremely ignorant before his arrival. He mounted into the cart, +having placed Mrs. Strike's basket there already, cracked the whip, and +went off across the prairie track between the ploughed acres already +sprouting into greenness. +</P> + +<P> +Hurley's quarter section was a matter of four miles away, and Joe had +met the man only once before. But already something of his reputation +had reached his ears, and Joe had gathered that amongst a farming class +of industrious fellows this Hurley was looked at askance. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a bully, and a sullen bully with it all," Peter had said once +before. "He don't keep a hand more'n a month, as a general rule, while +I reckon the boy as he has apprenticed to him has none too good a time. +Hurley's a man I don't take to." +</P> + +<P> +Bearing all this in mind, Joe whipped up his horses and took them at a +smart pace across the fields. On every hand lay wooded country, with +clearings to right and left, where the industry of the settlers had +felled the trees, paying toll to the Government of Canada for them, and +had then rooted the land, broken it, and placed therein the seed which +was to spring into such bounteous growth. In every case a log hut was +erected somewhere on the quarter section, consisting of one hundred and +sixty acres; and these log huts often enough disclosed from their +outward lines something of the character of the inmates, for in one +case the shack was barely twelve feet by twelve. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim Canning's," Joe told himself, for he had met Jim and liked him. +"A confirmed old bachelor; been in Canada for ten years and more, and +seems to like living by himself. He's a jovial fellow. Hallo, Jim!" +he shouted, seeing that worthy crossing his section towards him. +"How'dy." +</P> + +<P> +Observe the expression, and gather the fact that even his own short +residence in the Dominion had already caused Joe to copy those who +lived about him. He was becoming quite a Canadian in his speech. +Already one could detect something of that pleasant drawl that marks +the sturdy colonial. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, Joe!" shouted the stranger, beaming at our hero and disclosing +handsome features, sunburned to a degree, while even his chest was of a +deep brown; for Jim wore no collar, and had discarded the customary +neckcloth. He was, in fact, a tattered-looking object—a huge patch in +the seat of his trousers, a shirt which might have been blue or green +or red in its palmy days, but which was now of a curious brown, +evidently from much exposure to the sun. "How'dy," he cried. "Where +away?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley's, fetching a seeder." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! Then you look lively back agin," came the answer. "There's +ructions down there. Hurley's been fighting with his hands, and though +I believe they've settled the quarrel for the time bein', you never +know when it won't break out again; he ain't no use ain't Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +They waved to one another and then parted, Joe jogging along the rough +track, now with the wheels on one side deep in an old rut, which +threatened to upset the rig, and then bumping over boulders and tree +stumps, which made riding anything but comfortable. But what cared +Joe? He whistled shrilly; his face was rosy and tanned, his eyes +clear, his broad-brimmed hat thrust back on his head, till a lock of +hair showed to the front. Nor could his own clothing be very +favourably contrasted with Jim's; for Joe's shirt had a large rent in +it, made that very morning. A portion of the brim of his hat was +missing, while the ends of his trousers were threadbare, to say the +least of them. +</P> + +<P> +"Clothing don't make the man, anyhow," Peter had said many a time. +"You ain't any the wuss fer a rent in yer breeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, Joe!" came a hail across from another quarter section. "How's +the Strikes?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe shouted back a greeting, and was soon exchanging others with +farmers farther on. Indeed, he called at one of the shacks, a +magnificent affair, showing the pluck and ability of its owner. It +belonged to a city clerk from the city of London, one who had been +ignorant of farming conditions, and when Joe was last in this direction +it was not entirely finished. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I'd just drop in and see the house," he said, as he pulled +up at the door. "It wouldn't have been neighbourly to have passed +without a call." +</P> + +<P> +"That it wouldn't," laughed a small but active lady, who emerged and +shook hands with him. "Hi, Jack, here's Mr. Joe come to see us! Isn't +the shack a beauty, just?" +</P> + +<P> +She stood away from the shack, regarding it with a proud eye. And Joe +eagerly extolled its magnificence; for this city clerk had built a +house which none need be ashamed of. +</P> + +<P> +"Not bad by half, eh?" he grinned, as he came up to Joe. "My cousin, +who's farming with me, gave a hand. There's four rooms inside, and a +covered way to the stables and the piggeries. It's cost us a heap of +labour, but it's done now, and mighty pleased we are. How's the +Strikes? Crops showing well, eh? We're doing fine; and the wife is +making money with her fowls and eggs and such things. My boy, I +wouldn't be back on an office stool for double the pay. I'm free +here—free, my boy! I can breathe out in this country. And look at +the kids—they're as healthy as we could wish." +</P> + +<P> +Joe took in his surroundings with an observant eye, and heartily +congratulated his friends. Here he saw before him an example of what a +man from a city can do in the Dominion, if only he have the pluck and +the tenacity to face the difficulties and disappointments which are +sure to come along at first, and have the perseverance to work. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you manage?" he asked Jack, the owner of the place. +</P> + +<P> +"Manage! Well, now, like this. I was ill back in the Old Country, and +I'll say this for the people who employed me—they treated me +handsomely. They paid my salary for a whole year; then the doctor +recommended Canada, and out we came, drawing all our savings. Tom, my +cousin, had been here four years working on the farms, and we went into +partnership right away. Of course I knew nothing. I trusted to him, +and I've learned steadily. It's been uphill work, my boy. But there +you are." +</P> + +<P> +He held out an open palm towards the house, eyeing it with supreme +satisfaction. And no wonder. Here was a man who through ill-health +had failed, more or less, in England. Canada had given him a new lease +of life and new opportunities. But let us remember that the Dominion +gives nothing without effort on the side of immigrants. Jack had +worked—his elaborate shack showed that distinctly—while he had been +aided and abetted by a clever wife who fell in at once with the ways of +the country, who did not grumble because she was far outside a town, +but set to work to master the intricacies of chicken rearing, or butter +making, and a thousand and one things, hidden arts to her till that +moment. And the result was success—success and happiness. +</P> + +<P> +Joe shouted a farewell, promised to call in for a meal on his way back, +and again whipped up his horses. In half an hour the rough track and +his rig brought him to the door of the Hurleys, a tumble-down shack, +showing obvious slackness on the part of the owner; and as he climbed +out of the rig he heard cries and shouts coming from the interior of +the shack. +</P> + +<P> +"A ruction," he told himself. "Perhaps I'd better wait; other people's +quarrels have nothing to do with me." +</P> + +<P> +He paused half in and half out of the rig for a little while, till, of +a sudden, the door of the shack flew open, and a lad some fifteen years +of age dashed out. After him came a burly, bearded fellow, whose +knitted brows and scowling face showed that he was in a temper. There +was a whip in his hand, and no sooner was he out of the door than he +sent the lash curling about the flanks of the lad who had preceded him, +causing the latter to give vent to a cry of pain and to take cover by +the rig. Then Hurley—for he it was—swung round on our hero. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" he growled, drawing in the slack of his lash. "What do you +want? You ain't been asked here. Clear off!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe dropped from the rig and stepped a pace nearer. "I've come for +Peter Strike's seeder," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Strike! Eh? You get off!" came the furious answer, for it seemed as +if Joe's arrival had increased the anger of the individual. "You get +right off, or I'll give yer strike jest as I'm a-going to do with this +little rascal. Come you here, Tom; I'll learn you to leave the door of +the stable open of a night and have all the cattle treading over the +corn. You ain't coming? Then I'll have to fetch you." +</P> + +<P> +The huge bully bore down upon the trembling lad he had addressed, and +who seemed too scared to move. He cowered by the side of the rig till +Hurley was upon him, and was then dragged towards the door of the shack. +</P> + +<P> +"What! You ain't gone?" growled Hurley, seeing that Joe had made no +movement, but stood beside the rig regarding him, and gripping the butt +of his whip. "Ef you ain't away in a jiffy, I'll give you summat of +the same too." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll give me the seeder first," said Joe, keeping his temper, and +showing an unflinching front, "and then you'll take your hands off Tom. +Even if he did leave the stable door open, he's sorry, no doubt, and +there's no excuse for treating him so badly. I'd be ashamed if I was a +big fellow the same as you." +</P> + +<P> +Hurley let his lower jaw drop with amazement, showing a set of +irregular teeth which were all discoloured. He almost foamed at the +mouth, while his eyes narrowed with anger and seemed to disappear +within their sockets. Joe could see the fingers of his one free hand +crushed into the palm, while the man's muscles hardened and stood out +prominently under the skin of his arm. He bellowed when he answered. +</P> + +<P> +"So you'd like to concern yourself with things that ain't got nothing +to do with you," he shouted. "You're one of the green chaps from over +the water that thinks things out here should be run as if the boys was +dressed in silk, and every one of them mammy's darlings. I'm going to +lick this kid, and when I'm done, if you ain't gone, I'll give you a +hiding jest the same." +</P> + +<P> +Joe began to gather the fact that he was in for trouble, and debated +what he ought to do. There may be some who, under similar +circumstances, would have clambered into the rig and driven off; but +few, very few we imagine. Joe, at any rate, was not to be numbered +with them; he clenched the hand not gripping his whip and watched to +see what happened. And Hurley did not keep him long waiting. He took +the boy Tom by the scruff of his neck, forced him against the doorpost +of the shack, and proceeded to bind him to it with a length of cord. +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do," said Joe curtly, walking towards him. "Let that lad go!" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Why, ef I don't think you're mad!" declared the bully, opening +his mouth in amazement. Indeed, he never once thought seriously that +our hero would interpose between him and his victim. For Hurley stood +six feet in his socks, and was burly and heavy. Joe perhaps topped the +measure at five feet nine, and wanted to fill out a great deal yet +before he could compare with this fellow. If he had any advantage over +such a man, and that was an extremely doubtful point, it lay in his +activity. Joe was light and "nippy" on his feet. In the boxing ring +he could dodge round his opponent till the latter was exhausted almost +in his efforts to force the battle. Hurley, however, was heavy and fat +and unwieldy; besides, the bully's face bore abundant evidence of +indulgence. There were heavy lines beneath the eyes; the healthy tan +and colour of the average colonist who works in the open was +conspicuous by its absence, and instead his face was deadly pale. His +deep and rapid breathing, too, told of his soft condition. +</P> + +<P> +"He'd smash me like an egg," Joe told himself. "This is going to be a +nasty business. But I can't, I really can't back out of it. Look +here, Hurley," he said, attempting to reason with the angry man, "leave +Tom alone. You know better than I do that your neighbours would never +stand seeing you knocking him about. Bullying don't go down out in +these parts." +</P> + +<P> +There came a roar from Hurley. Reason was thrown away on the maddened +ruffian, and if only the truth had been known, he had imbibed a +sufficiency of liquor that morning to account for a great deal of +violence. Indeed, this was a habit which had grown with him, and which +spelled ruin to his farming and to the happiness of his home. The +veins in his bull-like neck swelled out prominently, then he launched +himself at Joe, and, swinging the whip overhead, sent the lash coiling +about his face. Our hero answered with a rapidity that must have been +startling. He dashed in with the quickness of lightning and brought +the butt end of his whip handle down with a crash on the middle of +Hurley's head. A minute later they were locked in one another's arms +and engaged in a desperate struggle. Hurley gripped Joe round the +shoulders, compressing his chest and arms. Then Joe managed to wrench +his right fist free, and without a particle of hesitation sent it again +and again into the bully's face, till blood streamed down upon him, +while Hurley shouted and foamed with rage, and strained as if he would +crush the life out of his youthful antagonist. His breath came in +gasps, so great were his exertions. His eyes were bloodshot, and +altogether he wore anything but a taking appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, let me go, and end the matter," said Joe, keeping his wits, and +pressing the man away from him as far as possible. +</P> + +<P> +"Not till I've half-killed you," came the grunting answer. "I'll learn +you to interfere; I'll break yer back, young feller." +</P> + +<P> +And thereupon he proceeded to attempt to put that plan into execution. +He lifted Joe as if he were a feather, swung him round and hurled him +against the shack, jarring the breath out of his body. It was only +with a great effort that our hero kept his senses and struggled to hold +an upright position, then, just as he had got his breath again, the man +was on him. Joe let out with his right and left fists in quick +succession, getting home on the bully's face on each occasion. Then, +stooping quickly, he picked up his whip, and, gripping the handle +again, brought the butt heavily across Hurley's head, sending the man +staggering backward. Indeed, the fellow seemed to be incapable of +further exertion, for he rested his back against the shack and stood +there panting. +</P> + +<P> +Joe went to the boy at once, cut the rope which bound him, and pointed +to the shack. +</P> + +<P> +"Get your traps at once," he said, "then climb into the rig. I'll take +you along with me." +</P> + +<P> +He turned once more to see what was happening to Hurley, and was only +just in time to spring aside, and thereby escape a sweeping blow from a +heavy fork handle with which the ruffian had armed himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll show you who's master," shouted the fellow, his beard bristling +with rage, his hat fallen from his head, and his clothing all awry. +"I'll show you who's winner here, I will. I'll brain you before I've +done with you." +</P> + +<P> +Up went his formidable stick again, to be swung over his head; then +with a rush he advanced on Joe. But the latter dodged behind the rig, +and for a while attacker and attacked were separated. Joe, in fact, +could have retired. But there was the lad Tom to be considered, for at +this moment he emerged from the shack, a huge bundle under his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Go back, right in," bellowed Hurley. "I'll finish you too if you're +not careful. Go right in; I'll give you what you've earned when I've +done with this cub. Eh? You ain't going to?" +</P> + +<P> +The smallest hesitation on the part of Tom was sufficient to send the +blood again rushing to the face of the bully. He looked a terrible +object as he sprang at the boy, and there is little doubt that he would +have done him a serious injury, had not Joe again pluckily come to the +rescue. Darting out from behind the rig, he was just in time to catch +the end of the stout handle which Hurley wielded as it swung back over +his shoulder. Then, with a howl of rage, the brute turned on him. +</P> + +<P> +"You again!" he shouted. "Then that for you! That, and that, and +that!" +</P> + +<P> +He rained blows on our hero, one catching him across the shoulder and +almost felling him. The remaining two he was lucky enough to escape by +leaping aside. But he realized that such an attack could not last for +ever, nor was he likely to escape another time. It was with a quick +movement, therefore, that he closed with Hurley. His fists went crash +into the man's face, and then they were once more locked together. But +here the bully had all the advantage, and his strength was increased by +the rage he felt. It mattered little to him that Tom, with a pluck +that did him credit, seized Joe's whip and struck his tormentor over +the head time and again. Hurley did not seem to feel the blows; all +his frantic rage was concentrated on Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a-going to kill you right out," he grunted. "I'll larn you to +come interfering with me and mine." +</P> + +<P> +He swung Joe upward clear of the ground and then hurled him downward, +once again driving the breath out of Joe's body. But he was not +defeated. The lad had more pluck than strength, to give him his due, +as, gasping for breath, he rose swiftly and once more tackled his +opponent. Reaching forward, he planted a heavy blow in Hurley's face, +and contrived to spring away before the man could seize him. +</P> + +<P> +"Go in again! Punch him for all you can!" shouted Tom, taking an +active interest now in the proceedings, and dodging round the +combatants, as if he were seeking another opportunity to strike his +tormentor. "Watch him, though; he's got that stick again. If I'd a +gun I'd shoot him." +</P> + +<P> +"You would, would you?" growled Hurley, his head down, his neck sunk +into his shoulders, and a demoniacal expression on his face. "You'd +shoot me, young feller? But I'll deal with you in a while. Maybe I'll +kill you. This fool here I will, sure as eggs." +</P> + +<P> +He spat into his hands and gripped his stake again. As for Joe, had he +been armed with a revolver, there is little doubt but that he would +have made good use of the weapon; for if ever a man looked murderous it +was Hurley. More than that, had Joe but known what the interior of the +shack disclosed, and been armed, he would have fired at this ruffian +without a second's hesitation; for Hurley's attack on Tom was not his +only act of brutality on this eventful morning. He had begun to bully +the boy an hour ago, in spite of his unhappy wife's appeal, and when +she had at length endeavoured to intervene, he had struck her +insensible. That was the class of ruffian our hero had to deal with. +A glance at his face, at his gaping lips, his firm-clenched teeth, and +his bristling beard showed that his mental condition approached +madness. And now, having regained his breath in some measure, he fixed +his eye on Joe and rushed at him as a bull would at one who had roused +his anger. +</P> + +<P> +"Watch him!" shouted Tom again, as if the warning were actually needed. +"Here, let's run for it." +</P> + +<P> +But it was too late to think of that. Besides, Joe had his master's +property to consider. He stood his ground, therefore, and held up a +warning hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I warn you to desist," he shouted. "I have done you no wrong, but +have prevented you from ill-treating this boy. You are much older than +I am, and should know what the end of this will be. Then, stand off." +</P> + +<P> +"Stand off, and know that you've interfered? Not me!" came the +growling answer. "Besides, I know how the thing's going to end. I'm +going to kill you sure for being fool enough to interfere with other +people." +</P> + +<P> +Hurley waited for no more. He had paused as Joe held up a hand and +spoke; but now he hurled himself forward, and struck out blindly with +his stake. As for Joe, he stepped aside and dealt the man a swinging +blow behind the ear as he passed him; but it was his last effort. The +fight was too unequal, for here was a man armed with a long stake and +able to reach him with it. Up went the formidable weapon again, and +when it fell Joe's head was beneath it. He fell with a crash and lay +quite motionless. As for Tom, he dropped his bundle and went off at a +run towards the nearest quarter section, shouting for help at the top +of his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I call justice," growled Hurley, looking at the result of +his violence. "I promised I'd knock him out, and I've done it. Now +for the next business. This row'll put the North-west Police on me, +and the neighbours'll be only too ready to join in. I'll hook it." +</P> + +<P> +He went to Joe and bent deliberately over his unconscious figure, and +then, with the hand of one who had obviously had experience, he ran +through his pockets. When he rose again he was tucking away within his +coat the roll of bills which represented all our hero's savings, added +to the small fund he had kept out of the bank, and in addition the +precious envelope which Joe's father had left to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sixty-five dollars free," growled Hurley. "That's a windfall, seeing +that there's scarce a cent in the shack. It'll do for the time being. +Here's an envelope—valuables, perhaps. I'll look into it later. Now, +I'll cut this farming and be off." +</P> + +<P> +Hurley was a cool ruffian, even if at times he was violent. He entered +the shack, and emerged after some five minutes carrying a bundle of +clothes and a rifle. Then he mounted the rig, having previously picked +up the whip which Joe had used, cracked it, and set off down the track +in the direction of the railway. He left the figure of Joe Bradley +lying motionless and forlorn on the very ground, where he had made such +a brave fight to protect a lad little younger than himself against the +attack of a hulking bully. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER VII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Into the Backwoods +</P> + +<P> +"Jest you sit right up and take a sip at this. Now then, head back; +make a try, lad. It'll pull you round; time's pressing." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-104"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-104.jpg" ALT="PETER AND JACK BAILEY FIND JOE UNCONSCIOUS" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +PETER AND JACK BAILEY FIND JOE UNCONSCIOUS +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Joe heard the voice afar off and stirred. There was a familiar note +about it, a kindly bluntness to which he was accustomed. So being the +sort of lad whose nature it was to make an effort always, if only for +the reason that he was of a decidedly active temperament, and perhaps +also because he hated, like many another person, to be beaten, he +lifted his head, feeling at once a hand placed beneath it. Then he +opened his eyes and stared upward, blinking all the while, at a huge +expanse of blue sky such as dwellers by the edge of the Mediterranean +rave about. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" he gasped, attempting to moisten his lips. "Time to get up, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jest take a sip, and then you'll be feeling lively," he heard again in +the well-known voice. "You ain't knocked out altogether. That thar +Hurley ain't quite beaten you, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +The mention of the bully's name brought Joe to an upright position. He +sat up abruptly, and then, seeing a tin mug just before his face, and +being consumed by a terrible thirst, seized the said tin mug and +drained it. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" he gasped. "I wanted that. Where's Hurley?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's jest the very question we're axin' ourselves. Sit up agin, +lad," he heard, undoubtedly in Peter Strike's voice. He turned at once +and gazed into the rough, unshaved face of his master. +</P> + +<P> +"You?" he asked in bewilderment. "Why, I left you way back at the +shack!" +</P> + +<P> +"So you did, lad, so you did; but that's two hours ago, and perhaps +more. I was out lookin' at the pigs, and thinkin' as the time was +coming close when I'd drive some of 'em over to Sudbury, where I'd be +sure to make dollars on 'em, when the missus comes rushin' out. +'Peter,' she shouts, 'where have you got to? Drat the man!' she says +aloud to herself, 'drat the man! Where's he got to? Never here when I +want him, but—ah, there you be!' she hollers out, suddenly catching a +view of me over by the pigs. 'There you be, Peter.'" +</P> + +<P> +Joe sat up with a vengeance now. His stay with the excellent Peter and +Mrs. Strike had taught him to like them very much, and Peter's +description of what had happened was so faithful to what must have +actually occurred. Joe himself had heard the bustling spouse of his +master calling her lord in peremptory tones, and he grinned now at the +recollection. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he smiled, "you were there." +</P> + +<P> +"I was that," laughed Peter. "And then I heard that there had been a +ruction, and that you was in it. Of course I slipped into the shack +fer my gun at once, hopped on to a hoss, and was away fer Jim Canning's +in a jiffy. He'd got his hosses harnessed into the rig already, and we +went on in company till we struck along by Jack Bailey's. Wall, now, +he's a bright lad is Jack, though he ain't so very long from an office +stool in London. There he was with his cousin George, with the rig +loaded up with provisions. +</P> + +<P> +"'Most like we'll be away from home a bit,' sang out Jack as we come +up. 'So we've put together a little grub and drink, besides a kettle +and sichlike. What'll you do?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Get right along to Hurley's and see what's happened,' I answered. +'This Tom's come in in a hurry, and maybe things ain't as bad as they +seem. Anyway, we'll make along there. I'll gallop ahead. I've rung +up the central station Sudbury, and told the missus to call for the +North-west Police, because this job's bound to be a police job anyway.' +Wall, here we are. How's yerself?" +</P> + +<P> +Peter had filled his tin mug again, and when he offered it to Joe the +lad took it with pleasure. He could sit up alone now, and presently +could actually stand, though he felt giddy. However, they brought a +chair from Hurley's shack and placed him in it. Then Jack Bailey, the +immigrant who not so long ago had been a clerk in the city of London, +and who was now on the high road to becoming a successful farmer in the +Dominion, stood over him and gently dressed the wound Hurley had given. +</P> + +<P> +"Not so bad, after all," he said cheerily, as he carefully washed the +part where the bully's stick had fallen. "Little more than an inch +long, and not deep. It won't even send you to bed. Just stay still +while I clip the hair away and tidy things up a little." +</P> + +<P> +For ten minutes he busied himself with Joe's head, snipping the hair +away all round the ugly wound which Hurley had given our hero; for your +city clerk is no fool, and Jack knew that no scalp wound can be safely +left unless the hair be removed and thorough cleanliness thus ensured. +He produced a little roll of strapping which his thoughtful wife had +provided, and, having placed a small dressing over the wound, applied +the strips of strapping, getting them to adhere by the simple expedient +of lighting a match and heating the adhesive material. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you'll do," he said, surveying his work with some pride. "How do +you feel? Giddy, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe felt distinctly giddy and positively sick; for a concussion is +often followed by sickness. But he was game, and fought down the +feeling heroically; in fact, he struggled to his feet, plunged his +hands into his pockets, and actually whistled. +</P> + +<P> +"Showing as you ain't beaten by a long way," said Peter, emerging from +the shack and looking with approval at our hero. But there were grave +lines about his face, and for a little while he was in close and +earnest conversation with his friends. Perhaps an hour later a +horseman came galloping towards them, and was hailed with pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +"That you, Mike?" sang out Peter. "I sent along over the 'phone for +you, and guessed it wouldn't take you long to reach." +</P> + +<P> +"Horse was already saddled, and me almost mounted when the message +came," replied the newcomer, dropping out of his saddle. "I was jest +off in the opposite direction, so it war lucky you 'phoned jest then. +I rode down to the station, and put horse and self aboard a freighter +about to steam out. They dropped me down about opposite here, and I've +legged it for all I could. What's the tale?" +</P> + +<P> +A magnificent specimen of humanity he was, this newcomer. Even Joe was +not so sick that he could not admire him. For Mike Garner stood six +feet in his stockinged feet, nothing less, and was burly in proportion; +also he seemed to be as agile as a cat, while none could accuse him of +fatness. +</P> + +<P> +His muscular calves filled the soiled and stained butcher boots he +wore. A pair of massive thighs swelled his khaki breeches, while the +dun-coloured shirt was stretched tight over a brawny chest, open at the +neck, and with sleeves rolled to the elbows, exposing a pair of arms +tanned to the colour of nut-brown, and swelling with muscle and sinew. +In fact, Mike was just a specimen of that fine body of men, the +North-west Police of Canada, who, in spite of paucity of numbers, keep +law and order in the land. But it is only fair to mention that out in +the settlements their task is simple, as a general rule; for your +newcomer to Canada, as well as the old settlers, are law-abiding +people, given to toil and thrift and not to broiling. However, here +and there there is trouble, and Mike had galloped over to investigate +the case of Hurley. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the tale?" he asked abruptly, dropping his reins over the big +horse's neck and leaving it there unattended, while he came towards the +shack rolling a cigarette. "Hurley's broken out, you say. Guessed he +might. I've had an eye on him this two years back. There's been +complaints of ructions at the shack. We had a man in a month back who +said he'd been knocked about." +</P> + +<P> +"It's wuss this time," answered Peter gravely. "I'll give yer the yarn +in a few words. I sent this here chap Joe over to fetch a seeder +Hurley had borrowed two years ago and hadn't returned. Wall, he heard +shouts as he come up to the shack, and saw Hurley whacking Tom here, +the lad he'd got apprenticed to him. Joe wasn't having that, nohow. +Eh?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked over at our hero as if for corroboration. Then Tom chimed in. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley's a bully," he cried. "He was tying me to the post when Joe +asked him to leave off. He was polite, was Joe. But Hurley swore and +threatened him too. Then he struck at him, and there was a shindy. +My, but Joe stuck to his man and hammered him in fine style! If it +hadn't been for the rake handle, Joe would have beat him, big though +Hurley is. But he struck Joe over the head, and then I ran for help." +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me as this here Joe did well," declared Mike curtly. "Wall, +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't much to tell. Tom reached Jim Canning's, and he rang me +up. We was all of us along here as quick as possible. Hurley took the +rig and drove off, and there ain't a doubt that he's taken a gun with +him. He cleared Joe's pockets of every cent—about sixty dollars, he +reckons—as well as a letter of some value. But that ain't all. +There's been trouble in the shack. That ere brute set upon his wife +and made an end of her." +</P> + +<P> +When the whole tale came to be understood, there was little doubt that +the brute Hurley had flown into a furious temper, and had become almost +mad with passion. His unfortunate wife he had killed with a knock-down +blow, while the reader has learned of his subsequent movements. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" asked Peter, looking expectantly at Mike. +</P> + +<P> +"You wait a bit, mate," said the other. He dropped his cigarette, +lifted his hat solemnly, and entered the shack. There was a severe air +on his handsome, sunburned face as he emerged. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," he said, "we've got to follow; that is, I have. If you +gentlemen——" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to ax," exclaimed Peter, with added bluntness. "We're +here. Ef you want us, we're right alongside you all the time. Murders +ain't often done in the settlements, but when they are, then it's every +man's job to find the brute as did it. You lift yer little finger, and +you've every man Jack willing and ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said Mike swiftly, looking about him and proceeding to roll +another cigarette. "We'll move slippy; we'll get right back along the +tracks this fellow made, and make use of the first telephone. This +Hurley didn't have one, so we can't send news from here. If he's taken +to the railway, we'll send along either way, and they'll have him +quick. But most like he's turned north, in which case we've a pretty +business before us. Ready now?" +</P> + +<P> +"You kin guess so," said Peter, clambering on to his horse. "Tom, you +ain't afraid to follow?" +</P> + +<P> +That young fellow shook his head vigorously; his eyes were sparkling. +At that moment he looked more of a boy, more resolute than he had done +ever since he came to the Hurleys'. "I'm game," he said. "If Joe was +game to tackle him alone, I'm right with the lot of you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you climb right into Jack's rig and take Joe with you. He'll +want a bit o' nussing for a while. Reckon, Mike, if this here business +is going to take us away north, we'd do well to lay in a stock of +ammunition. What say?" +</P> + +<P> +The policeman was in his saddle already and turned his head. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll get all we want from the station," he said. "Let's move." +</P> + +<P> +Waiting to allow Mike to gain some yards start, so that he might follow +Hurley's track without difficulty, the others followed in single file, +first Peter, and then Jack and his cousin in their rig, with Tom and +Joe beside them, while Jim brought up the rear. Half an hour later +they struck the railway, running clear and unfenced across the land. +Here Mike turned east, still following the wheel marks left by the rig +which Hurley had stolen. About four miles farther along the marks left +the railway and ran towards a stretch of wooded country. Perhaps a +quarter of a mile within this they came upon the rig itself, deserted, +while the horses and Hurley himself were nowhere to be seen. Mike +dropped out of his saddle, where Peter joined him. As for Joe, the +jolting and the excitement of the chase seemed to have done him a vast +amount of good, for his head had ceased to ache, and he was hardly +giddy. But for the pain in his scalp and a certain stiffness about his +limbs, he might never have come by an injury. +</P> + +<P> +"Unhitched his cattle here and made off with 'em," declared Mike, +standing well clear of the rig, and walking slowly round it. "Struck +due north, as I guessed he might. He'll be hiding up amongst the +woods, and it'll take a tracker to find him. Tell you, Peter, it ain't +no manner of use for us to follow right off. We might lose his tracks +any moment, then there'd be difficulties. Guess the best thing to do +is to camp right here and wait. I'll make back to the railway and +'phone along. Late to-night, perhaps, or to-morrow morning I'll be +back agin with you, and then I'll have someone along with me as can +follow any track, as can scent out a white man almost. You sit tight +right here. Got it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've hit it true," agreed Peter. "There ain't no manner of sense in +plunging on. This country right north is jest a huge forest for miles. +There's swamps, too; then stretches of rock over which a man might ride +and never leave a sign that a white man could follow. So we'll camp +right here, and you kin get back and fix things. Don't forget that +we'll want shooters. I've a revolver and a gun; Jack there and George +ain't got a gun between 'em, nor Joe nor Tom. It ain't sense to go +after a chap same as Hurley without having the things to meet him with. +He'll shoot, he will." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure," declared Mike, with the directness of one who knew; "he'll +shoot on sight. There's a rope waiting fer his neck, and he knows it. +You boys had best understand that right away." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced round at the party, his eyebrows elevated, a question on his +lips. But they sent him off promptly, laughing at his caution, eager +as ever, whatever the dangers, to follow the miscreant who had killed +his wife and wellnigh done the same for our hero. +</P> + +<P> +"Best get the hosses out o' the rigs and let 'em feed," said Peter, who +took the lead now that Mike had gone. "Jack, you and George has the +cooking things and the grub, so reckon it's up to you to cook us a +meal. Jim and me'll scout round a while. We ain't likely to cover the +tracks left by Hurley, and it'll be well to follow a goodish bit, so as +to make sure he ain't too handy. It wouldn't be kinder nice to get +eating and then have a bullet plumping amongst us." +</P> + +<P> +There was bustle about the little clearing for some few minutes. Joe +lent a hand to the Baileys, and soon had the horses out of the rig and +tied by a long rein to trees, allowing them freedom to graze. By then +Tom had gathered sufficient sticks to form a fire, and had helped to +take the horses from Jim's rig; for the latter had already departed +with Peter. In a little while there was a blaze in the centre of the +camp, and Jack had a kettle of water suspended over it with the help of +a couple of forked sticks. George produced from a mysterious parcel a +lump of meat, and having cut it into dainty slices, skewered them in a +long row on a maple stick he had cut and cleaned, and at once began to +toast them over the flames. +</P> + +<P> +"Makes you get hold of an appetite, young fellow," he said, winking at +Joe. "Now don't it? There's a flavour about open-air cookery that +just sets a man's mouth watering. Ever been out camping?" +</P> + +<P> +"Never," admitted Joe. "Ripping, I should say." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you're about right," cried George, his face ruddy beside the +flames. "I mind the time when I first came out to Canada. Didn't I +just pity Jack back in the Old Country! For I went off with a +prospecting party north to see what sort of a line there was for a new +railway. It wasn't half as bad as people had painted, for there were +few muskegs, as the swamps are called, and fewer mosquitoes. As for +food, there wasn't a day passed but the Indians along with us brought +in beasts of every sort; so we dined handsomely. And camping was a +fair treat. Talk about a difference between it and the old +life—living in a tiny villa south of London, mugging in a London +office, and being half-stifled with winter fogs! There we were in the +open day and night, such nights too! Fresh air, fresh food, and heaps +of exercise all the time. I just revelled. This steak frizzling here, +and the scent it throws out, reminds me of that time." +</P> + +<P> +Joe sniffed eagerly. His headache and even his pains were gone now, +while the trouble his wound gave him was infinitesimal. In fact, it +was the weight of the blow which Hurley had delivered which brought +unconsciousness. The wound was trifling. A thick skull had resisted +damage, and now that his brain tissues were recovering from the jar +they had received, Joe was almost himself again. He sniffed with eager +anticipation, and agreed that open-air cooking had its attractions. He +went to the far end of the maple switch and, holding out a hand, took +it from George. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll make a cook all right," laughed the latter. "Now see that none +of the steaks get burned. I'll pop tea into the kettle and get other +things ready. Those two will be back before very long; it stands to +reason that they won't go very far. Take my advice, Joe; get inside a +blanket just as soon as you have had a meal, and sleep. You'll be as +fit as a daisy come morning." +</P> + +<P> +About an hour later, when the first brew of tea had been finished, Jim +and Peter put in an appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"We kin camp without a thought of danger so far as I kin see," said the +latter, throwing himself down by the fire. "That thar Hurley's made +tracks slick north, and he ain't going to wait for no one. We followed +the trace of his hosses' hoofs fer three mile and more. By the way, +they ain't his hosses; they're mine. Jingo! That makes another count +up agin him. But I was saying as he's gone north slick as anything. +He'll want no end of catching. Seems to me this chase'll last a week +on end, and ef that's to be, I'll make across to the railway after I've +had a bite, and get on to the nearest telephone. Then I kin ring up +Jack's wife and my own and tell 'em. How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just what was bothering me," cried Jack, who was at that moment +burying his teeth in a juicy steak. "I was saying to myself a little +while ago that it seemed as if this wouldn't be a one-day affair, and I +was bothering to let the wife know. Not that I'm going back till the +matter's finished. Not much—this is a duty." +</P> + +<P> +"You've put it fair and square," agreed Peter, with flushing face. +"This here are a duty, sure. Out in the settlements there ain't so +many cases of murder and theft. A man soon gets known, seeing as +there's so few of us, and mostly in settlements close together; and ef +he's a bad man—why, out he goes sooner or later. But bad men mostly +gets into the towns. There's a sight of 'em always hanging about the +saloons, and so on. Some of 'em make a regular business of watching +out fer green 'uns, fellers just out from home; and mostly the rogues +strip the poor chaps of every dollar. They're up to all sorts of +tricks. Most like they'll pretend to have land to sell, ready-made +farms, you might say. The bad man is Canada's curse, jest that and +nothing less; and reckon not a few of 'em is the relics of the wasters +and the wont-works who was sent out here long ago from the Old Country, +to get 'em out of the way or to give 'em a new chance." +</P> + +<P> +"In fact, just the class that modern-day Canada is determined not to +have," chimed in George. "And one can't blame the Government. In +future, jailbirds won't be sent direct to the Dominion instead of to +prison, simply because they'll be turned back at the ports; just the +same as folks with obvious disease of the lungs will be turned back. +But you can pass me along another of those steaks, Tom; and don't go on +looking at 'em like that. Pitch in at them, my boy. There's enough +there and to spare fer everybody." +</P> + +<P> +Tom had indeed been eyeing the frizzling steaks somewhat hungrily, and, +if the truth had but been known, it was only from force of habit. +Hurley had been very much the master. His apprentice had put up with +short fare and many blows. +</P> + +<P> +"How was it you was put with him, lad?" asked Peter, when he had +finished his meal and had lit up a pipe preparatory to his setting out +for the railway. "Surely the folks who put you there hadn't met +Hurley?" +</P> + +<P> +Tom shook his head emphatically. "They'd never seen him," he said. +"My uncle wished me to come out from England, and saw an advertisement +offering to take a lad for a premium. He paid the money and I came, +only to find that I was a sort of slave." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" growled Peter. "Jest what I thought. That's another turn the +bad man gets up to. But boys ain't always treated same as that. I've +had 'em meself, and know others who've taken lads. The Barnardo Boys' +Home sends a goodish lot out to Canada and places them out on the +farms. But, bless you! they ain't finished with 'em by a long bit, and +rightly so. There's inspectors who go round and make surprise visits, +and if they find that a boy isn't getting fair and square and liberal +treatment, why, away he's taken, and put somewhere else. And the +result is that we're bringing up in Canada a heap of young chaps who +come out jest at the very right age, when they ain't yet learned any +farming and when their minds is—wall, now, what are the term?" +</P> + +<P> +"Receptive," cried Jack, who was quite a scholar. "The young, +untutored mind is readily receptive." +</P> + +<P> +"Put it like that," agreed Peter, who was a wonderfully talkative and +jolly fellow. "The kids learn, and ain't got no bad tricks to unlearn. +Folks has got to set great store by 'em, for they're likely obedient +lads, and there's more demands for 'em than there's boys. They get +looked after. There ain't no bullyin' and half-starving same as in +Tom's case. What's more, farmers is willing and eager to pay 'em wages +and keep 'em, and not jest have their work for nothing, and a handsome +premium into the bargain. That 'ere Hurley's a bad hat." +</P> + +<P> +He knocked the ashes out of his pipe, leaped to his feet, and swung his +leg over his horse. Without troubling to put a saddle on the beast, he +hitched the rein free from the tree and went off whistling. +</P> + +<P> +"A good chap," said Jim. "Known Peter this many a year. Good master, +eh, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"None better," came the prompt answer. "They treat me as if I were a +son. He's used to this tracking?" +</P> + +<P> +"He's a good man, you may say," agreed Jim. "But he don't often track +men—moose perhaps, and a bear sometimes. This Hurley'll be a +different matter." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Joe, jest you get right off to bed," commanded George, who seemed +to take almost a paternal interest in our hero. "By sunrise to-morrow +you'll be feeling fine, and you'll thank me." +</P> + +<P> +That the advice was good there was little doubt, and since Jack +supported it with vehemence, Joe obeyed, though he felt far from +sleepy. Indeed, he was almost too excited to be that; for, recollect, +the events of the day had been sufficiently rousing for a youth of his +age and experience. He had been engaged in a desperate struggle with a +bully, with a man who would have killed him with pleasure, and who, in +fact, did his best to bring about that ending. And now he and his +friends were in chase of the murderer. He, Joe, was away in the wilds +of Canada, in the backwoods, with the open sky above him, about to +Sleep beneath it for the first time in his life. He drew a blanket +which Jack had brought round his body, and lay down on a bed of spruce +that Jim had cut. And there for a while he lay without movement, his +eyes blinking at the glowing embers of the fire. A little later his +head dropped lower, while the men chatting in low voices round the fire +heard his sonorous breathing. +</P> + +<P> +"Good plucked 'un, him," remarked Jim, pulling his pipe from his mouth +and pointing the stem at the recumbent figure. "There's many as would +have backed out of that 'ere ruction and left Tom to fend for hisself. +He's the sort we want in this country. A chap as can put up a fight +with a murderer double his size can face the troubles that come to all +colonists. Pass the 'bacca, Jack. I came away in such a hurry that +I've none." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know his history?" asked Jack Bailey after a while, when they +had smoked silently for some few minutes, the smoke from their pipes +ascending into the cool evening air and mingling with that from the +fire where it met the leaves overhead. "He's a better sort—one of the +better class in England." +</P> + +<P> +"As you can see," agreed George. "Heard anything of him, Jim?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jest this," came the answer. "There's a man named Fennick as was +close handy to me this five years back. Well, seems he came out with +Joe, and they write to one another every now and again. In fact, this +Joe's going along to join him one of these days as soon as he's learned +farming. Fennick just swears by the lad; says as he organized a band +of volunteers on the way out when the ship got afire, and helped to +fight the flames. So Joe ain't fought a murderer only; that's why I +agreed as he was a good plucked 'un. Now I'm fer bed; most like we +shall have a hard day of it ter-morrer. I know Mike; he's a boy fer +pushing ahead. There's nothing tires him. Gee! I wouldn't wonder if +we was in fer a hairy sort of time on this business. Joe are likely to +come up agin trouble beside which his fight with Hurley warn't nothing." +</P> + +<P> +Peace reigned over the slumbering camp within half an hour. The +watchful stars glowed down upon the little band and seemed to guard +them. Slowly the hours drew along towards morning, when the pursuit of +the murderer would be taken up in earnest. And which one of the band +could say what sort of experience awaited them? Perhaps Jim would be +right. It was more than likely that Joe might find himself plunged +into a conflict beside which his fight this day was a mere scrimmage. +But whatever the prospect might be, it did not disturb his slumbers. +Joe hardly so much as turned till the first rays of a brilliant sun +streamed into his eyes on the following morning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER VIII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Hank makes his Appearance +</P> + +<P> +The sound of hoofs trampling through the wood was the first thing that +came to Joe's ears as he sprang from his spruce bed and looked about +him. Someone was coming towards the camp through the forest, while +about the still-smouldering fire lay the figures of his sleeping +comrades. +</P> + +<P> +"Peter and Mike coming back, I expect," he told himself. "But +supposing it were Hurley?" +</P> + +<P> +There was just a bare possibility that the sounds were produced by that +individual, and, lest it should be the case, Joe gripped a thick stake +and awaited events. Then a shout escaped him, while an answering +welcome hail sounded through the camp and set every one of the sleepers +stirring. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you right enough!" shouted Peter, laughing as he dropped from +his horse. "I seed Joe grip a hold of a stake when he heard us, +thinking maybe we was Hurley. He was game, he was, to put up another +fight with the bully. But we ain't, you see, lad, and so let's get to +breakfast." +</P> + +<P> +It appeared that Peter had met with Mike late the previous night, and +the two had rested beside the railway; and now they came into the camp, +bringing with them a couple of followers. These proved to be +Indians—not the Red Indian one sees often pictured, but lean men with +bent figures, and dressed in shabby buckskins. Their black hair was +trained back from their faces and tied at their necks. Their thin +faces were seamed and lined as if with many troubles, while their bent +figures, their wrinkles, and their general appearance gave one the +impression that Mike had brought old men with him. +</P> + +<P> +"But don't you think it," said the policeman, when he dropped from his +horse and was seated near the fire awaiting a meal. "They're men I've +employed this many a time, and first-rate trackers. One's known as +Fox—and a fox he is, if one judges by his cunning—the other hasn't a +name, so far as I have ever gathered, so he's 'Bill' to me, and answers +the name promptly. They ain't much good at talking, either of 'em, +though they can speak English. I've known them sit all day long round +the fire and not pass more than a dozen words between them; but clever +trackers they are, and that's why I've brought 'em. Now, boys, +something to eat, and then away." +</P> + +<P> +By now the fire had been coaxed into a blaze, while a number of steaks +which George had prepared overnight, and had already skewered, were +soon sizzling over the flames. Tom came running back to camp from a +stream to which he had been sent, and at once the kettle was hung in +position. As for Joe, he felt a new lad indeed. He might never have +come by an injury, though his head was tender enough when one touched +it. He slipped from the camp with Jim, and the two, having walked a +little way down the stream, stripped off their clothing and had a +splendid dip. +</P> + +<P> +"Regular dodge of an Englishman," grinned Jim, as he sat on the bank to +allow the sun's rays to dry him. "Your Englishman comes to a foreign +part and plunges right into the first pond he happens on. There's +hardly another man that's so keen on bathing. But it freshens a +fellow—eh, Joe? How are you this morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hungry," came the prompt answer. "But I felt I wanted a livener, and +that dip has done it. Suppose we shall ride right off as soon as +breakfast is finished?" +</P> + +<P> +"You've hit it; Peter and Mike has brought along some spare hosses. +There was Peter's to begin with, and Mike's; then there was two in my +rig and two in Jack Bailey's, making six in all. With the Indians we +muster just eight, so two more hosses were wanted. You see, we ain't +going to take rigs with us. They'd be in the way, most likely, +especially in this sort of wooded country. We shall ride; Peter's +brought along the saddles." +</P> + +<P> +When they returned to the camp and were in the midst of their +breakfast, the voluble Peter explained matters fully. +</P> + +<P> +"Me and Mike hit right up agin one another last night," he said, "and +in course we got to gassing. We allowed as rigs warn't no sort of use +away up in the country to which this Hurley had made, so it war clear +that extry hosses was needed. Wall, we fetched 'em. Hank Mitchell, +one of the best fellows you could hap upon, lent 'em willingly, and +he's coming to join us. He's bringing guns, too, for they're to come +along in a freight train from Sudbury fust thing this morning; so's +saddles and tinned provisions. Hank has also arranged fer two of his +hands to come right along here and clear back with the rigs, fer it +wouldn't do to leave 'em here fer more than a day or two. People's +mighty honest in these parts, but there might arrive someone who was a +stranger, and who jest happened to be in want of a rig same as one of +these. So they'll be took back to the rail track, near Hank +Mitchell's, and wait thar till we returns. Why, ef that ain't Hank +hisself! He has been extry nippy." +</P> + +<P> +A short, spare man came cantering up to the camp at that moment, his +approach having been hidden from all by the trees which surrounded +them. He dropped from his saddle with as much ease as the average man +steps from one board to another, and walked swiftly forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, mates, how'dy?" he said softly, as if he were afraid of having +his voice heard. "My boys are close handy with the guns and sichlike. +Which one's Joe, him as I've heard of?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thar," cried Peter, grinning, and pointing to our somewhat bashful +hero. +</P> + +<P> +"Do yer drink?" asked Hank abruptly, stepping across till he was close +to him, and regarding Joe with a pair of eyes which might be described +as actually piercing. +</P> + +<P> +"No," was the equally abrupt answer. Joe, in fact, stared hard at this +newcomer. He didn't quite know what to make of him, though, to be +sure, he rather liked his looks. Hank's nut-brown face, clean-shaven, +unlike most others in those parts, with its deeply-lined forehead and +the whisps of grey hair showing beneath his hat at the temples, spoke +of one who had seen many years. But it was a kindly face, kindly and +keen; that, perhaps, was the better description. Every movement of the +little man was jerky. His lips, when he spoke, opened sharply and +closed again, as if he were anxious to hide his teeth. His eyes +blinked with spasmodic suddenness. He even seemed to breathe +differently from other men. +</P> + +<P> +"Smoke?" he demanded, firing the question off as if he were glad to be +rid of it, and yet observing Joe all the while, as if he would +penetrate to the centre of his brain and steal the very thoughts he was +thinking. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes," admitted Joe, somewhat guiltily; "not often; shall do +later." +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! Larned farmin' yet?" asked Hank, with comical shortness. +</P> + +<P> +"Trying," grinned Joe, beginning to see fun in this catechism, and +taking a decided liking for the newcomer; "but I ain't through yet. I +admit that I don't know everything. There's a few things yet that +Peter can teach me." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" shouted the latter. "He's had you, Hank. He's always +like this is Hank," explained Peter. "He don't 'low no one to be +friends till he's sort of axed him all sorts o' questions. And guess +he jest don't care much fer a Britisher as comes out here and knows +most everything. Git ahead, Hank, boy," he bellowed. "Joe ain't one +o' them. He's one of the right sort; he's a good plucked 'un." +</P> + +<P> +"You kin shake," said Hank, his comical gravity unmoved, though there +was just the suspicion of a flutter of an eyelid. "Lad, I'm proud to +meet yer. The chap as could stand up to Hurley are worth knowing. +Shake!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe shook. He danced almost on the toes of one foot, for this lean +little man had a hand grip of iron. His fingers closed round our +hero's as if he meant to crush the very bones, while those curiously +piercing eyes never left the young fellow he was addressing. +</P> + +<P> +"I say," roared Joe, "now try again." +</P> + +<P> +He offered his hand for the second time, while those who observed Hank +saw distinctly a twinkle of his eye. He even smiled, a rarity with +Hank, and responded at once to our hero's invitation. This time Joe +returned the grip with interest. Some weeks of farming, of rough work +in Peter Strike's service, had hardened his muscles, and anyone could +see that he was filling out. Indeed, but for the fact that Hank had +taken him unawares, Joe's fingers would not have received such a +crushing. Now he let them close round the diminutive Canadian's like a +vice, and fixed his eyes on those two piercing orbs which he found so +wonderfully attracting. The two closed in to one another till but a +short space separated them, and then and there exchanged a second grip, +the grip which spoke of friendship, of strength, of firmness, of +virtues which the man who lives his life in the open and meets danger +and privation often enough prizes above all other virtues. As for +Hank, the suspicion of a smile in his eyes went promptly. He was all +seriousness. Indeed, all of a sudden he seemed to view Joe from an +altogether different standpoint. A minute before he had been greeting +a green lad, one who had shown pluck and deserved encouragement; but +now he seemed to have dipped somewhat into the spirit which kept Joe +going, which dominated every waking moment of his life, which made of +him the youthful leader of that band of volunteers aboard the emigrant +ship, and again urged him to stand fast in Tom's behalf in spite of +Hurley the bully. Intuitively Hank seemed to guess that Joe had +balance and grit, and promptly he acknowledged the fact. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm fair glad to meet you," he said. "From now on you've a friend." +</P> + +<P> +Then they sat down round the fire, while their comrades watched their +faces for some few minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank ain't often done a thing like that before," Peter whispered to +Joe a little later. "He's just the queerest bird I ever met, and don't +never show no feeling; but he's took to you, jest as a duck takes to +water. He's got grit has Hank. I've knowed him foller a chap as had +robbed a widow woman, follow him for two weeks on end, and take him +almost aboard the ship he had booked by. That meant determination, or +grit if you like to call it so. But here's the men with the guns, and +guess Mike's getting restless. Now jest take the word of one who's +been out here a while and has met bad men. Ef you sight Hurley, don't +stand hankey-pankey. Back in England you'd call to him and then give +chase ef he didn't round up. Out here you kin call to him; but ef his +hands don't go sky high above his head, and that in a jiffy, give him +lead—lead, boy, or else he'll be putting daylight through your own +valuable carcass. This ain't a game we're after; we're following a man +that's murdered a woman, his own wife, and who's got nothing but the +hangman's rope before him. He won't be over particular what happens to +those who pursue him. Now, Mike, what's to do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fall in and arrange the order," cried that latter, swinging his leg +across his horse. "First, Tom there, stamp out the embers of the fire. +Things haven't got dried up yet awhile, for the weather hasn't been +overhot. But it's always as well to be careful; a forest fire is +something wuss than chasin' a murderer. Now, Fox and Bill go ahead. +Ah, they're there already—that shows that they've had practice. Then +I'll follow them close. Jack Bailey and George can ride along side by +side. Jim and Tom can come along next, while I guess that Peter and +Hank had best ride right in rear, taking Joe with 'em. It'll teach him +a heap, ef only he keeps his eyes and his ears open. Boys, there's +grub and stuff to bring along, so divide it up and drop it into your +saddle bags." +</P> + +<P> +Some little while before, Hank's men had put in an appearance, bringing +stout saddles with them, all of which were fitted with two canvas bags. +There were rifles also for each one of the party, as well as revolvers +and the necessary ammunition. The provisions consisted of tinned +goods, as well as the stuff which the thoughtful Jack Bailey had +brought with him. It took but a little while to share out all the +things, and very soon the cavalcade was mounted. Then, having seen +Hank's men ride off with the rigs trailing behind them, the party set +its face to the north and rode off in wake of the murderer. And a very +formidable and business-like little band they appeared. We have +already described the Indians known as Fox and Bill. They sat their +horses bareback, as if they were part and parcel of their mounts, while +not once had either addressed the other or one of the white men they +were to lead, save in the case of Mike, when all that passed seemed to +be a succession of incomprehensible grunts. For the rest, Mike himself +made a fine figure of a horseman, and sat head and shoulders above +everyone, for his horse was big like himself. Jack and George followed +some ten paces behind him, boyish eagerness on their faces. Then came +Jim and Tom, none the less eager, while in rear of all the lanky Peter +bestrode his horse with legs swinging loosely on either side, while +Hank sat his saddle for all the world as if he were a statue. The man +was taciturnity itself. He was almost as reserved and silent as the +Indians, and for watchfulness, there never was such a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess them two Injuns has made a mistake," cried Peter, after a while, +pointing away from the track they were following. "There's marks of +hosses to one side. Hurley stopped jest here." +</P> + +<P> +"And rested," agreed Hank, with brevity. "They ain't missed that. No +Injun could. They've seed that Hurley rested there some while, and +then went on agin. They didn't need to go and look; they kind of knew +it." +</P> + +<P> +"How?" asked Joe curiously, himself puzzled to see how the Indians +could have divined such a matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Simple," came the response. "We've been going this hour and more. +Wall, reckon it war evening when Hurley abandoned the rig and pushed +on. He travelled an hour, when it fell dark. He jest camped for the +evening. That thar place was his fust stopping point. It ain't of no +importance except to tell us that he's got so much start of us this +morning, besides what he made by getting off before we broke camp. +Young chap, this here's a sorter stern chase. Time's everything in it. +Hurley's got, say, three hours' start, and the country ahead is wooded. +Wall, we've got to make up that three hours afore we can come up with +him, and stopping jest to see what sort of a bed he made last night +ain't a-going to help us. See?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe did; he smiled at Hank. "Never even crossed my brain," he said. +"Somehow, when one tackles a job like this for the first time, one +doesn't see things as does a practised hand." +</P> + +<P> +"In course you don't," agreed Hank, winking back at him. "It's jest +like the farming; some chaps think they know everything, but they +don't. Most folks is bamboozled right from the beginning. They has to +learn; and tracking wants learning jest like farming. Now, jest you +see here; how should I know as Hurley warn't more'n three hours ahead?" +</P> + +<P> +It was a conundrum. Joe puzzled and puzzled, and then gave up the +riddle. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know," he said, disappointment in his voice. "How?" +</P> + +<P> +"In course you don't know. How could you, youngster? But I'll larn +yer. This here's a wooded country, as you've agreed. Wall, now, most +all the time we're steering in and out amongst the pines, and every now +and agin you or me has to separate because there ain't room. Hurley's +got two hosses—don't ferget that—and he can't so easily separate, +'cos he'd lose a hold of the led hoss. So he has to ride round the +narrow places or squeeze through. He squeezes through at times, and +what happens? Jest this." +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Hank drew in his mount at just such a spot as he was +mentioning, where the trees were grouped in a thick cluster, and the +track led between two of them, both on the high road to become giants. +Hank leaned from his saddle and pointed to a spot on one of the trees +about the height of his stirrup iron. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley barged through that 'ere place," he said, "and, so as his leg +shouldn't get jammed, he pushed his foot out and rid the hosses as much +to the other side as he could. Wall, his thick, hob-nailed toe came +agin this tree and chipped the bark. I've seen a dozen similar places." +</P> + +<P> +Joe regarded the spot closely. It was evident, now that the fact was +pointed out to him, that Hurley's toe had been responsible for the +injury. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" demanded Hank. "See?" +</P> + +<P> +"The place he's left? Yes," assented Joe; "but——" +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so—wants larnin'," asserted Hank dryly. "Now, see here. This +aer a deepish cut, and a jagged one. It's bleeding; there's gum oozing +from the place, and it aer fresh and sticky. That shows as the wound +was done not so long ago. Ef it was last night, then the gum would +have balled down below, while the surface of the wound would hardly be +sticky, but gettin' dry. Now, how do I know as Mike or his Injuns +ain't done it passing along?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because the gum has balled to a certain extent already, while I see it +oozes very slowly from the wound." +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you," cried Hank, evidently pleased with his pupil. "That's +a fust lesson. That there gum ha' balled jest a little, as you've +said, and there's some of it still oozing. Wall, now, it stands to +reason that a man don't go riding around in a wood like this when it's +dark, fer he'd get knocking his ugly head agin the branches. So he +either lies down and sleeps, or dismounts and leads the hoss. This war +done by a mounted man, and sense it ain't been light more'n three +hours, and Hurley couldn't ride during the dark, why, there's my +question answered. Even ef we hadn't seen the place where he camped, +this here wound in the pine would ha' told us all the story. Jest you +put that in yer mouth and chew it." +</P> + +<P> +Joe did with a vengeance. The two rode on side by side for three +hours, hardly exchanging another syllable; but all the while our hero +was observing. If he had imagined previously that he was a fairly +lively individual, quite wideawake and aware of his surroundings, he +was beginning to discover, particularly in the company of this sharp +little Hank, that he was by no means a marvel. +</P> + +<P> +"See whar Hurley stopped fer a bite?" asked Hank one time, as they +pressed along across a more open part of the forest. "You didn't? +Wall, jest ride back a pace and take another squint. It aer fairly +talking to yer." +</P> + +<P> +They returned some twenty paces, and Joe looked about him eagerly. But +not a sign did he see to convince him that Hurley had pulled up and +eaten. Hank grinned, one of those irritating and superior grins. His +dried-up face became seamed with subdued merriment, while Joe went the +colour of a geranium; and then, when in the depths of despair, he of a +sudden made a discovery. "Ah!" he gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so," said Hank encouragingly. +</P> + +<P> +"He hitched his reins over a branch, and the horse jerked his head and +pulled the limb off the tree. There it is. There's the place where it +broke, and, by jingo! there's gum below, slightly balled already. +Besides, there's a piece of paper a little to the side. Probably it +contained the food he was eating, while underfoot there are horses' +hoofs in all sorts of positions." +</P> + +<P> +Hank grinned the grin of a man who is elated. "That 'ere Mike'll have +to look to hisself, and so will the Injuns," he said. "Soon we'll have +you leading this here party. But you have got the hang of the thing +now, lad. Never get tired of looking about you. There's tales to be +read in most every spot. P'raps it's a bear that's passed. Then you'd +see a footmark same almost as ef it was a barefooted human. Or you may +drop on the splayed-out markings of a moose. That's the thing to fire +the blood of a hunter. Maybe there's not a sign, but only trees and +rocks and stones that seems to tell nothing; but there's always +something to be learned. A wolf has had his quarters here, fer there's +a hollow, and there's bones in heaps all round. Or there's been a +prospecting party through the place, fer there's stumps that has been +cut with an axe, and not broke off rough as ef the wind had done it. +Tracking aer a game that don't tire, never! It's a thing that a man +aer best at ef he's been born to it; but it can be learned, same as +farming. You ain't too old to start, not by a long way." +</P> + +<P> +Not till the sun was directly overhead did the little band come to a +halt, and then only to allow them to eat a little, while girths were +loosened to give the horses every chance of resting. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady and sure does it," said Mike, as he smoked his pipe and leaned +against one of the trees. "Of course, we've got to push the pace +whenever we're able, and I reckon we've been doing that all along. +Anyway, we've made up some of the distance, for single horsemen can get +along through these trees quicker than a chap who's got one to lead. +It's when he gets to open country that he'll make the most of the +hosses; for he'll be able to change over, and that means a heap, don't +it, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"A heap," answered that individual jerkily. "But he has to sleep, +Mike. That's where we'll have him." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? How's that? I ain't followed." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest like this. He's fresh now we'll 'low, and ef he's able he'll +push on all through the night. To-morrow he'll still be going; but +when night falls he'll be wanting a rest, and so, you may say, shall we +be. Now, ef half this outfit pushes on, Hurley has to move ahead, and +it'll be slow travelling. Our chaps'll go afoot, so as to rest the +hosses. At dawn the rest of us rides along the trace after 'em, and +can cover the ground mighty quick in comparison, seeing that it's +daylight. Wall, we leave half the hosses with the fust party, who're +resting, and push ahead. Our chums gets a four-hour sleep and comes +along after. Both of us is fresh that night, while Hurley can't hardly +keep his eyes open. It aer as clear as daylight." +</P> + +<P> +The little man shut up like an oyster. He drew a pipe as diminutive as +himself from an inner pocket, crammed it with tobacco while his eyes +rested dreamily on the forest, and then struck flint and steel with +such unerring skill that he soon had the weed smouldering. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer as clear as daylight," he puffed at the company. "Ef things +goes in the ordinary way, Hurley'll be taken just when I've hinted, and +he'll be in jail come the week-end." +</P> + +<P> +"And supposin' they don't go along in the ordinary course?" asked Mike, +who, from his experience, thought highly of the taciturn Hank. "It +ain't of much use to set out follerin' a criminal and expecting him to +do jest as you want him to. You've got to make allowance fer all sorts +of strange turns. He's making north; he might fall in with some +wandering Indians, or a prospecting gang, and get off along with them +because of their help." +</P> + +<P> +"Yep!" answered the usually silent Hank, with accustomed brevity. +"Guess he might. Even so, we ain't done with him. This outfit's out +to catch a ruffian who wants catching badly." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet!" agreed Peter, with a quick shake of his head. +</P> + +<P> +"A brute who's been and murdered his wife," cried Jim, his face +flushing. +</P> + +<P> +"The sort of bully whose capture we must make our duty," declared Jack +Bailey, not the least enthusiastic of the party. +</P> + +<P> +"Yep!" responded Hank. "So it comes to this, Mike. Supposin' he does +do something we can't yet guess at, why, where's the odds? We still +goes on after him. And sooner or later, barrin' regular bad luck, +we'll have him. That's what I'm out fer. Guess it's the same with you +and the other partners." +</P> + +<P> +All that afternoon they pushed on through the forest, sometimes +pressing their way through closely-grown pine trees, and then through +thick masses of maple, of spruce, of birch, or of the scarlet sumac. +At times streams cut across their path—for Canada is a well-watered +country for the most part—and more than once had to skirt the edge of +great lakes. But always Fox and Bill went ahead without hesitation. +Not once had they met with a break in the trail. Their ferrety eyes +hardly seemed ever to look to the ground. It seemed, indeed, as if +they followed the trail of the murderer by intuition alone. When night +came pine stumps were set fire to and the chase continued. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin say as we're making even way with him," said Hank, who still +rode with our hero. "He's got to find his way amongst the trees, and +he's walking, I guess. Wall, so are we. But we've pine knots to light +us, and kin follow the trace easy. It's to-morrow night that'll be the +teaser." +</P> + +<P> +The early morning found the devoted little band emerging into a stretch +of open country. But there were trees again in the distance, and +always the tracks left by the fugitive went due north. +</P> + +<P> +"A child could follow all the way," declared Hank, as they went on at a +steady walk, sometimes trotting to change the monotony. "This here's +grass country, and no man can ride through it at this season without +leaving a trail. I wonder he ain't tried some tricks to throw us off, +sich as droppin' into a stream and riding down along the bed; but he +ain't, and it begins to look as ef he knew there was someone after him +and was feelin' hustled. All the same, he's 'way ahead; you can't get +a glimpse of him across the open." +</P> + +<P> +Halting for meals, and to give the horses a rest, the band had reached +wooded country again that evening, and about eight o'clock came to a +halt. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's where we camp," said Mike. "Now we'll divide up. Some of us +has a feed and a smoke, and then goes on ahead on foot; t'others has a +sleep along of the hosses, and then rides on at the first streak of +dawn. Who's going on?" +</P> + +<P> +It took but a little while to settle this point, and since it was +agreed to by all that young fellows like Joe and Tom needed sleep more +than did older men, and, moreover, had harder work to do without it, +these two remained in the camp, Hank and Peter staying with them. Fox +and Bill, with a curt grunt, assented to the fact that they should +proceed at once. Mike, of course, was one of the forward party, while +George and Jack Bailey and Jim completed its numbers. +</P> + +<P> +"Reckon you ain't got no great need to hurry," said Hank, when the meal +was finished and pipes had been lighted, while a tin pannikin was being +passed round with an allowance of whisky for all who cared for it. +"Guess Hurley'll think we won't be out to-night, and he'll take things +easy. In course he might camp too, when you might drop nicely upon +him. Jest hold yerselves in, for it's little sleep you'll get till we +have him." +</P> + +<P> +About an hour later the little band selected to move on in advance left +the camp in Indian file, Fox leading, with Bill immediately behind him. +They left their horses with their comrades, so as to give them a good +rest. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer see," explained Hank, "hosses is queer cusses. They kin stand a +deal of gruelling work ef they're fed right, and most of these here is +corn fed. But you can't drive 'em too hard. There's no other animal +that breaks his heart sooner, and that's a fact. They're that game, +they'll keep on till they're ready to drop. Therefore, you've got to +save 'em, particularly seein' as Hurley has got two to our one, and so +kin rest 'em in turn. Now the sooner we get stretched out the better." +</P> + +<P> +There being no need to set a watch, all who were remaining in camp at +once wrapped themselves in their blankets and threw themselves upon the +beds already prepared—consisting of the leafy tips of small spruce +trees, than which nothing can make a more comfortable couch—and, +needless to say, their eyes closed almost at once, for they were weary +after their travels, and they slept till the first streak of dawn +awakened Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"Up you gets, one and all," he sang out. "Jest give them hosses a +mouthful of water, and then we'll ride. Time we come along with the +others we'll feed, and then away agin." +</P> + +<P> +That was Joe's first experience of working on an empty stomach, and +truth compels us to add that he found the experience a trying one. He +felt hollow and sickly. The sharp morning air made him ravenous; he +simply longed for the hour for breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you do feel holler," laughed Hank, when our hero told him of his +feelings. "I mind the time when I was jest a slip of a lad and felt +jest as you do. But I was away huntin' with my father then, for he +made a tidy pile of dollars by gettin' skins and selling 'em in +Montreal, and sometimes over the border in America. Wall, he were a +hot 'un. He never seemed to want to eat, only when he was set down to +it—gee!—he could put away double as much as the average man. It was +then that I used to get that sinking sensation. We'd be out at +daylight winter mornings, with the thermometer 'way down below zero, +and the air that crisp it made you jest long for a bite. And I've been +two days and more without a trace of food. That's mighty hard, you'll +believe me. Howsomever, you stick it out this time. You'll soon get +used to waitin'." +</P> + +<P> +However, when three hours had passed, during which the party had made +very rapid progress through a country thinly covered with trees, the +famishing feeling with which Joe had been assailed had worn off to a +considerable degree. +</P> + +<P> +"Feel as though I could go along comfortably all day without food," he +told Hank. "I'm not nearly so hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"You jest wait till you smell a steak cookin'," came the laughing +rejoinder. "Gee! Won't yer mouth water jest! But we're mighty near +them folks now. Seems to me as ef I could smell a fire burnin'." +</P> + +<P> +A mile farther along they came upon their comrades camped in a little +clearing. Mike at once came towards them. +</P> + +<P> +"He was camped sure enough last night," he said; "but Hurley's a smart +'un. He heard us comin', and streaked straight off; but he ain't far. +We've picked up a heap of lost way, and to-night we'll nab him. You +ain't fed?" +</P> + +<P> +"None," answered Hank, dropping from his horse. "These here lads is +fairly shoutin' fer food." +</P> + +<P> +They made a cheerful party round the fire, and Joe sniffed expectantly +as George skewered some steaks and set them to frizzle over the blaze. +And oh, the enchantment of that open-air meal and this camping life! +Joe revelled in it. Never had he tasted such juicy and succulent meat. +Never before had steaming tea seemed so very entrancing. And think of +the future! The excitement of this chase had grown upon him. In a +measure he was sorry for Hurley; but then he was a brutal murderer, and +such people must not expect anything but strict justice. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have him come to-night," said Mike, with assurance, as he led +the way to the horses. "You folks had better see to yer guns. There's +never no saying when this Hurley won't stand to his ground and put up a +fight. Ef he does, wall, things will be flyin'. He ain't likely to be +so careless as to miss a chap who stands out clear under his sights, as +ef he was askin' fer a bullet." +</P> + +<P> +The announcement sent a flush to Joe's and to Tom's cheeks. They rode +forward eagerly, wondering when the silence of the forest might be +broken by a rifle report, and whether, supposing that event happened, +either one of them would drop out of his saddle. +</P> + +<P> +"Makes a chap tingle all over," Joe admitted to Hank. "But I ain't +going to let this Hurley scare the life out of me, not by a long way." +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you," came the answer. "I ain't afeard of his bullets, only +lest he should beat us and give us the goodbye. That'd be tarnation +bad fortune." +</P> + +<P> +The result of this long chase was, in fact, still very much in the +balance, and it remained to be seen whether Joe and his friends would +yet lay their hands on the murderer, and if so, whether our hero would +be fortunate enough to recover his dollars and that vastly important +letter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER IX +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Lost in the Forest +</P> + +<P> +"Them 'ere Injuns has stopped, and the hull crowd of us is collecting +together," suddenly exclaimed Hank Mitchell, when the party of pursuers +had marched steadily throughout the day till evening was approaching, +and were in the depths of a forest which, for three hours past, had +been getting denser and denser. "I've seed myself signs that told as +Hurley wasn't so far ahead, and I'd reckon that Fox and his friend have +seen something more than warns 'em that things may be warmin' up in a +little. There's Mike beckoning." +</P> + +<P> +It was not an easy matter to see far in this thick forest, even when +the light was at its best, which was not the case now that evening was +approaching. But it happened that Mike and the Indian trackers had +come to rest at a spot which gave the others a clear view of them, so +that as those marching in the rear came up, they were able to see the +comrades who preceded them gathering into a circle. Mike addressed +Peter and Hank immediately on their arrival, speaking in subdued tones. +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't got much go left in him," he said excitedly. "Fox reckons as +he went right off to sleep in his saddle hereabouts, and happenin' to +ride under a low branch, got swept off his horse. See here." +</P> + +<P> +He had halted his friends a little to one side of the track followed by +Hurley, a track easily to be distinguished; for the two horses the +murderer had stolen trod down undergrowth at every step, leaving a +trail which even Joe, with all his inexperience, could have followed. +Some yards ahead it was evident that something unusual had happened, +for the undergrowth was trodden down in a wide circle. Hank, his head +down, his eyes glued to the trace, sniffing as if he were a dog, at +once shot from the circle and, taking pains to tread outside the trail, +inspected every part of it. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" he grunted, with satisfaction which was evident. "Hurley ain't +the man that can put up with much loss of sleep. Besides, he's been +bustling these many hours, and that makes a man tired. You kin see +what happened. Of course, Fox and Bill were bound to notice it. +Reckon he carries a gun slung over his shoulder, and that was the cause +of his tumble." +</P> + +<P> +Joe looked the question he would have dearly loved to ask, and Hank, +happening to catch his eye at that moment, beckoned to the lad. +</P> + +<P> +"You come along over here and keep right clear of the trace," he said. +"Now, I know what you were about to ask. How'd I know as he had a gun +slung over his shoulder? Wall, here's the answer." He pointed to a +low bough which stretched right across the trail, and at once Joe's +eyes searched it. There was a small gash on the side from which Hurley +must have approached the branch, and the gash extended underneath for +some little distance, perhaps for a matter of three inches, while right +at the end a piece of bark had been torn out. +</P> + +<P> +"Plain, ain't it?" said Hank. "You could draw his picture, ef you had +a pencil and paper and was a hand at sich things. Just tell us how it +was." +</P> + +<P> +"Fast asleep and bending forward," ventured Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so. Bendin' forward, 'cos that's the way with a man that has +dropped off in his saddle. Wall?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gun slung over his shoulder—right shoulder, I should say." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" snapped Hank. "No guessin', now." +</P> + +<P> +"Because the gash on this side of the branch slants in that direction, +looking at it from below." +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you. Get ahead!" +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't have guessed that the gash was caused by a rifle, though," +admitted Joe, with candour. "You told me that part of it. However, I +think the gun was over his right shoulder; the muzzle caught the branch +and swept Hurley backward till he toppled out of his saddle. I suppose +he awoke with a start and made a frantic effort to keep his seat. +That's when the muzzle—perhaps the sight of the rifle—dug deeper into +the bark and ripped a piece away." +</P> + +<P> +"You aer gettin' along fine," said Hank encouragingly. "What next?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's where he fell," said Joe, pointing to the trace. "His fall +startled both horses; one went to the right and the other to the left. +They were roped together in all probability, or they would have gone +farther apart. Hurley picked himself up, scrambled on one of their +backs, and went ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"Cussin' at bein' so shook up," grunted Hank. "That's a fine tale, and +you've told it well, young chap. But next time you must be the fust to +spot things like this without gettin' hints from anyone. Mike," he +called softly, "what'll you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's jest what I'm wonderin'," came the answer. "How'd you fix it?" +</P> + +<P> +The shrewd and sharp little Hank had no doubts on the matter; in fact, +it was clear that he had come to a decision promptly, the moment he had +seen what had happened. "There ain't two ways for it," he said +crisply. "Hurley's 'way ahead, and not so far, neither. Most like, ef +he feels as we're close on his heels, he'll choose a likely spot and +turn. Now we don't want to let him feel anything of the sort, and so +it's up to us to creep on without a sound. Ef I war boss here I'd send +three or four of the party 'way ahead, t'others to follow, and be ready +to dash along up ef there was a call. But four ought to be enough to +collar Hurley ef he was without a rifle, while the same number kin easy +round him up and hold him till t'others arrive." +</P> + +<P> +"Then that's jest what I was thinking," cried Mike, looking across at +Peter. +</P> + +<P> +"Same here," nodded that individual. "Hank aer the boy fer jobs of +this sort. He's had experience, while chaps same as I am can't hope to +know much about tracking, when the best part of our time's spent on our +sections. Ef he says go ahead like that, why, in course it's up to us +to do it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll send Fox along," said Mike. "I'll go ahead too, and Hank +with me. Who else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not Joe?" asked Hank suddenly. "He's cute, he is, and he ain't +likely to get scared. You could shoot, lad, ef this Hurley turned and +fired in amongst us?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would certainly," admitted Joe. "Of course, I don't want to have +to, for I should hate to kill or injure a man; but then he's a +murderer." +</P> + +<P> +"He's that," agreed Mike, with energy, "and he don't deserve soft +treatment. Still, ef he'll come in quiet, he shall be treated fair; ef +he don't, why, then, it's his own lookout. Best go afoot; eh, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure! We can move jest as fast, and we shan't make anything like the +sound. You get ahead with Fox, Mike; I'll take Joe and larn him a +little as we go." +</P> + +<P> +At once they handed over their horses to their comrades, Joe passing +his to Peter. +</P> + +<P> +"You're in real luck, you are, lad," whispered the latter, as he took +the bridle. "I ain't never seen Hank take so much trouble with anyone, +least of all a green 'un lately out from the Old Country. He aer fair +took to you, and Hank aer one of them queer cusses that when he's fixed +a thing in his own mind he don't never alter. So you've a friend there +as you kin count on." +</P> + +<P> +Slinging a bag across their shoulders, and packing a tin mug and some +provisions, the quartet took up their rifles, saw that they had +sufficient ammunition, and then strode off through the deepening gloom +of the forest, the silent and ever-watchful Fox in advance, with Mike +close behind him; at a little distance in the rear came Hank, with Joe +beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest you watch this," whispered the little man. "That there Fox don't +make a sound as he goes, nor Mike neither, and he's a big man. Wall, +see how they tread: always with caution; always lookin' first to see +what's underfoot. And ef they can't see, as'll be the case afore long, +why, then, they bends down and feels. You've got to be wary all the +while, I tell you. Supposing as you go you swung the butt of your gun +agin one of these tree trunks, wall, a man as was listening could hear +the sound half a mile away, for a forest carries sound; then, supposin' +you was to step on a piece of fallen branch, fallen perhaps last year +and dry as tinder now, why, it'd break with a crack that would make you +think someone had fired a gun, and that 'ere Hurley would hear it +whether he was listening special or not. So go carefully, whatever you +do; silence aer important." +</P> + +<P> +Joe found the task he had undertaken one of the most fascinating he had +ever attempted, for he was aware that the other three who formed the +party were experienced men, and unlikely to do anything to cause an +alarm. It was with himself that the danger lay, and he determined then +and there that he would return Hank's kindness in asking for him to be +one of the band by taking every care to avoid noise. Yet it was not by +any means an easy matter, for Fox pushed the pace. The lean Indian +strode forward with a long, stealthy stride, making not so much as a +sound. His head was bent towards his chest, his back bowed, while the +inward-pointed toes of either foot seemed to be able to see every twig +beneath them, and avoid them as if they were so many tinned tacks, +liable to cause a spasm of agony to the one who trod upon them. +</P> + +<P> +The huge and bulky Mike, contrary to one's expectations, followed the +Indian with fairy-like footsteps; for the policeman was possessed of a +wonderfully springy step, which carried him silently through the +forest. Hank's method of progress hardly needs description. The +little, lean man, whose features expressed his character so faithfully, +strode along in silence, and with such apparent unconcern and +carelessness that one would almost have expected him to trip over some +rotting stump, or in other way create some sound liable to reach the +ears of Hurley. But that was Hank's way. As a matter of fact, the +little fellow might be said to be all ears and eyes. He never seemed +to step aside, or to alter by the merest inch the length of his paces; +and yet contrast his movements with those of our hero. Joe was in a +fever; his eyes were glued to the ground, while his legs were flung +this way and that; for every second he seemed to see some lurking twig, +the smallest pressure upon which would send an alarm ringing through +the forest. +</P> + +<P> +Two hours later the light had failed to such an extent that it became +difficult to see the underwood, and the whole party was forced to +proceed as best they could, an occasional sharp crack showing that one +or other had stepped on a branch. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me as ef we was coming somewheres near water," said Hank, +after a long silence. "Somehow the air feels moister, and I've heard +tell as there are big lakes in this direction. What's that 'ere Injun +stopped for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Men been here before," exclaimed Mike, who had halted beside the +Indian as Hank came up. "Fox has found trees cut down; lumbermen +perhaps have been in this direction." +</P> + +<P> +"Seems to me as ef we was nigh clear of the forest too," said Hank. +"I've kinder felt water this past half-hour, and ef we pushes on a few +yards, seems to me we'll sight it. Ef so, Hurley aer closer than we +thought, for he'll have had his way stopped, and will have had to turn. +Let's git on." +</P> + +<P> +They proceeded again, but this time with added caution, and within a +little while suddenly broke their way out of the forest on to the bank +of a lake which seemed to be entirely surrounded by dense tree growth. +It was almost too dark to distinguish the size of this lake, though +Hank declared that it was very large. +</P> + +<P> +"What's more, we're at the far end of it," he said, with conviction, +"and ef I'm right, this Hurley ain't had to go so far out of his +course. He'll have cut to the right a little, and then straight north +again. I kin see his game too. He aer making for James Bay in the +hope that he may hit upon one of the Hudson Bay steamers going north. +It aer a long journey, but ef he could win through he'd be safer than +anywhere else. See here, he's gone right as I said he would." +</P> + +<P> +They turned along the trail again, this time in the gloaming, their +eyes now and again turned to the surface of the lake afar off, where +the rays of the setting sun were reflected. Not that they could see +the sun itself—that orb was entirely hidden by the trees—but perhaps +its light reached the water by way of some huge gap in the foliage at +present unseen by the little party. +</P> + +<P> +"A hut, 'way over there!" +</P> + +<P> +It was Mike who brought all to a sudden stop by this information, +sending them one and all to their knees, so as to make themselves less +visible. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as it aer likely as he could see us any more'n we could see him," +said Hank. "Still, it aer always wise to take precautions. Now I +guess there is jest one thing fer us to do. We want to strike right +off into the forest and skirt round till we're closer to that 'ere hut. +Of course, Hurley mayn't have stopped there; but then he may. Ef so, +like as not he'll be watchin' the trace he's left, and ef we continued +to follow it, he'd see us in half a jiffy." +</P> + +<P> +"Then let's get moving," cried Mike impatiently. "I'm for taking +Hurley the very first moment we can. But we shall have to rush him; +he's not the sort of fellow to give in without a struggle, and he'll +kick hard, you may say for certain." +</P> + +<P> +"He's bound to put lead into someone or sommat," agreed Hank dryly. +"We've got to get him cornered, and then attract his attention in one +direction while some of us rushes him from the other. Now, boys." +</P> + +<P> +"This way." Mike led the way beside the Indian, and once more the +little quartet dived into the forest, where giants towered on either +hand. Not that your wooded country in New Ontario can show such +enormous trees as are to be found much farther west, on the far side of +the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, to wit. For there a +favourable climate and a wonderfully fertile soil has caused monsters +to rear their heads to enormous heights, while the girth of some is +stupendous. But New Ontario can show some arboreal development that is +not to be despised, while in parts timber groups itself into great +forests, some of which have perhaps never yet seen a white man, though +the majority have by now witnessed the arrival of prospectors, and may +even have echoed to the ring of the lumberman's axe. +</P> + +<P> +Threading their way amongst the trees, and now and again having to +clamber over some fallen giant—for here, on the edge of the lake, the +trees were more exposed to winter winds, and some had suffered in +consequence—Joe and his friends gradually worked their way along till +opposite the part where the southern bank of the lake turned abruptly +north. Following this new direction, and creeping with the utmost care +through the undergrowth, it was some little while before they were +within sight of the hut which they had viewed from their first +position. It stood down by the water, thickly surrounded by +undergrowth, though the trees which had at one time no doubt reared +their heads there had been felled. It was just a small shack built of +logs and roofed with strips of bark. +</P> + +<P> +"Nigh falling to pieces too," whispered Hank, who had wonderful +eyesight. "Guess a lumber gang was 'way up here some little time back, +and that's where they worked and lived during the winter. The question +now aer this. Where's Hurley? Ef he's hidin' there we have him. Ef +he ain't, why, lookin' at the hut don't help us any, and merely lets +him get farther off." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll send Fox forward, then," answered Mike, his mouth close to +Hank's head, "unless you think that you——" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't say as I couldn't get there and back without even a +Redskin hearin' or seein' me," said Hank; "but then I might fail. And +it's jest sense ef you've got an Injun to make use of him. The +critters is that cunning, they'd nigh creep into a house and be sittin' +down beside you before a man was aware that they was there. They're +the silentest and the most cunnin' fellers as ever I did set eyes on. +Ef it wasn't that Hurley might be over yonder, I'd tell yer a yarn of +how a Redskin crawled into my camp one night and as near killed me as +possible. But send him off, while we lie down close." +</P> + +<P> +Sinking their bodies in the undergrowth, they lay still for some twenty +minutes, during which Fox was away from the spot. He went off towards +the hut with merely a low grunt to show that he knew what was expected +of him, and though Joe did his utmost to follow the man's track, there +was never a sound, never a waving bramble to show where Fox had gone. +Then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, our hero discovered the Indian +crawling in behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Shucks!" grinned Hank, watching Joe. "I was wonderin' when you'd get +wind of him. That 'ere chap could ha' knifed or tomahawked you easy. +How did I know that he was comin'? That's what you're trying to ask. +Jest this way—you heard a frog croaking a while back?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe had; he had wondered where the beast was, and had listened to the +call three or four times repeated. He nodded in Hank's direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall, that war this here Injun cuss. It was jest his signal to let us +know as he was comin', so that we shouldn't get blazing into the bush +and shooting him. Seen anything?" he asked, swinging round on the +Indian, who, now that his task was accomplished, was seated +nonchalantly behind Mike, not venturing to give his news till he was +interrogated. +</P> + +<P> +"Seen the man," came the curt answer. "Tracks lead right to the shack. +Hurley lying down asleep, I think. Horses hidden in the forest to the +left." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! Then this chase is drawin' to a close," said Mike, satisfaction +in his tones. "Hurley's there, fast asleep, perhaps. Seems as ef he +must have made up his mind that we'd stopped for the night. Guess we +can walk right in and take him—eh, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shouldn't, ef I was you; Hurley aer as cute as a hull bag o' monkeys. +True, he aer dead sleepy, onless he managed to get some sleep on his +hoss, which ain't altogether onlikely. Only he got knocked out of the +saddle, as you might easily expect. Supposin' he ain't asleep, but aer +lyin' hid there, you ain't going to take him so easy. Seems to me the +fust thing's to make sure of the hosses; then you kin creep in, and ef +you still ain't certain whether he's awake or asleep, why, one of us +kin kick up a rumpus close handy. That'll bring him out, when t'others +can jump on his back and take him." +</P> + +<P> +"Then Fox will see to the horses," declared Mike promptly. "We three +will creep up close to the house. As soon as Fox sends us his signal +we'll get closer, and if there's no sign of our man, we'll send Joe out +to draw him. Savvy, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Quite," said Joe. "I'll strike a blow with the butt of my rifle on +one of the trees and then sit down close to the trunk." +</P> + +<P> +"And keep out o' sight," advised Hank. "That ere the hull ticket, +Mike. There ain't no use waitin'. Jest now there's a little light; in +half an hour a fellow will want a pine knot flaring before his face ef +he wishes to know where he's going." +</P> + +<P> +Once more the little party was set in motion, Fox detaching himself +from the others. As for Joe, he crawled after Hank, every muscle of +his body vibrating. Every now and again his eyes went to the hut, now +easily distinguishable; for though it was dark within the forest, there +was still some light over the lake, while the hut itself stood +silhouetted against the fast-failing rays of the setting sun as they +fell aslant the water. Perhaps it took the trio ten minutes to reach +the shack. Perhaps the minutes were even shorter, though to our hero +the time seemed terribly long. His patience, indeed, was badly +strained before he had taken up what was to be his position. As for +Hank and Mike, they were lying down within ten feet of the shack, on +that side away from the door opposite which was Joe. It now only +remained for Fox to send his signal. As for Hurley, there was no sign +of him. He might have been a hundred miles away. Suddenly there came +a loud neigh from the depths of the forest, followed by another, and +then a whinnying which told of the presence of horses. Joe heard the +beasts stamping as if they were frightened, or as if the arrival of the +Redskin had caused them pleasure. In any case, the noise came to the +hut distinctly. A second later Joe imagined he heard a sound from +within. It was followed by the sudden appearance of a figure, bent +almost double, and rushing out into the open, as if some force were +behind him and propelling him. Indeed, long before our hero could lift +his weapon or could shout, Hurley—for he it undoubtedly was—had +bounded across the narrow open space about the shack and had dived into +the forest. +</P> + +<P> +"After him!" bellowed Mike at the top of his voice, as he plunged +through the bushes. As for Hank, no sound left his lips. The little +man trailed his rifle and went off after Hurley with his head down and +his ears pricked, and eager to catch every sound. Need the reader feel +surprised that Joe followed suit. Recovering from the utter +astonishment into which the sudden manoeuvre had thrown him, he gripped +his own weapon and darted after his comrades. He could hear them +directly to the front, and dashed headlong after them. Then his +already-wounded head came into somewhat violent contact with a branch, +and Joe sat down rapidly. But he pulled himself together after a +while, and, with his brain dizzy and buzzing, thrust his way onward +through the dense growth of trees and underwood. How long he continued +the effort he never knew. Suffice it to say that he made a desperate +endeavour to keep up with and gain upon his fellows. Then, of a +sudden, he discovered that there was not one single sound to direct +him. A minute before he had imagined he heard the crash of men dashing +through the forest; now there was a deathly silence all about him. He +stood still, panting, endeavouring to silence his own breathing and to +still the thud of his throbbing heart. No, not a sound but what was +made by himself. He shouted—not an answer; not a shout in return. He +called loudly on Hank and Mike to tell him of their direction. Then, +as the minutes passed and silence still surrounded him, he pushed +valiantly on amongst the trees, hoping every half-minute that there +would be a signal. Whether he went directly forward or retraced his +steps, or faced the east, the west, the south, or the north, Joe was +entirely ignorant. He was lost, in fact. The knowledge after a while +drove him frantic, so that he plunged aimlessly to and fro; then, +fortunately for him, perhaps, a second collision with a tree knocked +him senseless. For the moment his troubles were forgotten, though his +plight was still the same; and the plight of a man lost in the +backwoods of Canada is often enough desperate. Indeed, many a poor +fellow has gone, never to be found again, swallowed by the trees which, +as the years roll on, are felled to form the log huts of the settlers +crowding into the Dominion. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER X +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Hand-to-hand Encounter +</P> + +<P> +While Joe lies senseless in the depths of the forest, lost entirely to +his friends, and in as desperate a condition as he well could be, it +will be as well to follow the footsteps of Mike and Hank as they dashed +away in pursuit of Hurley. Both were well accustomed to the muskegs +and the timbered lands of Canada, and, if only the truth were known, +had before now been engaged in a similar expedition. But following a +murderer during the daytime through such a place, and at a sedate pace, +was entirely different from the same attempt at night, and all the +while at such speed that precautions could not be taken. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef that ain't the third time I've barged into a tree trunk and near +had all the breath knocked out of my body," growled Mike, when he had +progressed a mile, and was still well behind Hank. "Seems to me that +we should ha' done better to sit down and wait till morning, or lit +pine knots and then followed. Hank may do it; I shan't. This forest +fairly beats me." +</P> + +<P> +But Mike was a man possessed of wonderful perseverance and tenacity, +and, in spite of the numerous occasions on which he blundered into +trees, he held to the chase till he also, like Joe, lost his comrade. +He stood listening for a sound to tell him where Hank was striding +between the trees, then, hearing nothing after quite a long wait, the +wary and experienced Mike sat down in the most comfortable attitude he +could assume, dragged his ever-faithful pipe from his pocket, and, +having filled and lit the weed, puffed away philosophically. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley ain't got nothing to fear from me, that's certain," he told +himself, not without some amount of disappointment and bitterness. +"But Hank is the boy to keep him running. The little chap is that +hard, he could keep at it all night and right into to-morrow, and he'll +stick to his man unless something clean throws him off the scent. For +me, reckon I'm trapped here. I'll have a smoke and then a sleep. +Early in the morning I'll consider things, and then push on or make +back to the hut, as seems best." +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Hank slid through the forest as only a practised hunter could +have done. It was on this night expedition that he proved his worth, +as also the value of an early training. For while Mike dashed so often +against a tree, and we know that Joe had done so to his own injury, +Hank seemed intuitively to know when a low-hung branch stretched across +the path he was following. More than that, somehow he contrived to +keep directly on the trail which Hurley was making. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm getting closer," he told himself, when a whole hour had passed. +"Any time now Hurley'll turn, and then, ef he don't climb down and cry +out that he's beaten, I'll have to put lead into his carcass. That's +him 'way ahead, making as much noise as a bull would ef he was +gallopin' through the forest." +</P> + +<P> +Loud bangs and crashes indeed told of Hurley's presence, for the trees +carried every sound, and accentuated most. It may be imagined, +therefore, that the sudden cessation of all noise astonished Hank +considerably. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" he asked himself, coming to a halt and standing perfectly still +so as to listen the better. Not that Hank's breath was coming fast, as +in the case of our hero; no, he was not even panting. His heart beats +were scarcely increased in number in spite of his exertions, which only +went to prove that constant training, correct diet, a good digestion, +and a happy and contented mind are advantages possessed by men such as +Hank who live their lives in the open. "Not so much as a sound," he +told himself. "Now, what has happened? Seems to me likely that Hurley +aer turned and ha' got his gun ready fer shootin'. Wall, an old bird +same as me don't get frightened jest because lead may be flyin'. It +wants a clever or a lucky man to make a hit in the darkness, specially +when there's tree trunks all round to give a fellow cover. I'm going +to move forward." +</P> + +<P> +He drew back the hammer of his gun, for Hank was a conservative little +fellow. +</P> + +<P> +"None of yer new-fangled guns fer me," he had said more than once. +"Mind you, I 'low as the new 'uns is fine, and has many advantages. A +chap can load and fire twenty times perhaps while I am fiddling with +this trigger. 'Sides, I've one myself, and know 'em well. But ef +there ain't likely to be quick firin', give me this old thing." +</P> + +<P> +Gripping the weapon in one hand, he bent double and went on stealthily, +and in five minutes he had gained some fifty paces. But of Hurley +there was no sign. The murderer gave no signal which told of his +whereabouts, and though Hank stole on farther, still there was nothing +to indicate where Hurley had got to. +</P> + +<P> +"Fair beats the band," growled Hank, beginning to doubt his own powers +of trackin'. "I'm past the spot where I last heard him, and I'm dead +sure he ain't been within ten yards. Hurley aer a town man, and I'm +game to say as he couldn't have sat so still as I should miss him. +This fair puzzles me—oh!" +</P> + +<P> +His keen ear heard something towards the left, then again there was +silence, save for the murmur of the breeze playing amongst the leaves +overhead. Hank slid in that direction promptly, only again he gave a +gasp of astonishment, and finally one of extreme annoyance; for it +seemed that he had missed Hurley's new path by but a very little. It +is not to be wondered at that he had not always been able to follow the +exact steps which the fugitive had taken, for he was tracking now not +by signs conveyed to him by leaves and sticks and bushes, but by sound +alone—the noise of the murderer as he broke his way through the +underwood. When that had ceased, Hank had lost direction slightly. He +had turned just a little to the right, whereas to the left, where +Hurley had passed, there was a curious clearing. It was a broad glade, +in fact the same through which the falling sun had sent its glancing +rays to the surface of the lake. Clear of trees, thickly covered with +grass, it offered a carpet which deadened all footsteps. No wonder +that Hank had heard nothing. It was a fortunate matter, indeed, that +some slight sound, perhaps his boot striking a pebble, had shown +Hurley's position. Hank bounded into the glade as if he had been shot +out of the forest. +</P> + +<P> +"Thunder!" he growled. "Ef that ain't the cutest move of any as he's +practised! He's made back towards the lake, that's fer certain. There +ain't no use in waitin'." +</P> + +<P> +Once more his gun was trailed, and this time, bent less low than +formerly, the little hunter went speeding off in the direction Hurley +had taken. Nor did the darkness trouble him, for whereas amongst the +trees it had been intensely dark, here in the glade it was +comparatively light, and a man with eyes such as Hank possessed could +detect every obstruction. +</P> + +<P> +We will leave him in pursuit of Hurley, and, having already shown Mike +calmly smoking in his leafy retreat, will once more visit our hero. +Joe was in a sad way, and it was, without shadow of doubt, a boon to +him that collision with a tree knocked him senseless, for but a few +moments before there had come to him that stupid, senseless frenzy +which comes to those who are lost. Even the brave man is not proof +against that frenzy. Sudden, nameless terror snatches at him; the very +silence mocks him, while calmness and reason, virtues of which he may +well have been the proud possessor earlier, leave him as if he were a +leper. Distraction, desperate and hopelessly unavailing effort follow, +and finally there comes exhaustion. The unhappy wretch who is entirely +lost may become calm when strength has left him, and die merely from +want of food and water; but more often madness is the enemy which +finally accounts for his ending. +</P> + +<P> +It was as well, therefore, for Joe that a severe blow on the head drove +all sense and knowledge from him. He lay like a log for hours, and if +we describe his condition faithfully, we must declare that the blow was +not entirely responsible. Joe was fagged out with his long efforts; it +happened, therefore, that a deep, refreshing sleep followed upon the +unconsciousness produced by collision, and carried him well on into the +morning. The shaded rays of a risen sun were streaming in upon his +leafy prison when he finally opened his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo! Hank!" he called, and, getting no reply, turned to stare about +him. "My word, don't my head hurt just! Now, how's that? Why, if—— +Where am I?" +</P> + +<P> +His brain was still muddled, though wonderfully refreshed, and for +quite a little while he sat thinking, trying to remember exactly what +had happened. Then the knowledge of his true position came to him—he +was lost in the forest. +</P> + +<P> +"And made a fine ass of myself, to be sure," he cried, remembering his +fears of the previous evening. +</P> + +<P> +"Lost my head; got scared at the silence, and then went barging right +and left. This is the dickens of a muddle. Here am I, goodness knows +where. Anyway, in Canada, I'm dead certain." +</P> + +<P> +That set him laughing—for Joe was a merry fellow—moreover, the warm +rays of the sun streaming down upon him, together with the fact that +the past few days had accustomed him to his surroundings, cheered him +wonderfully. He began to whistle, an old habit, and then recollected +that he was hungry. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be better for some food, that's certain," he told himself. "I +can't think properly as yet. But there's one thing I am sure of—I +behaved like a child of two last night. I clean lost my head, and am +jolly glad there wasn't anyone else here to watch me. My, how Hank +would laugh, and Fennick too! Wonder how he and his wife are doing, +and Jim and Claude too. Wonder, also, whether Hurley's captured." +</P> + +<P> +Quite accidentally his hand fell into the bag which he had suspended +over his shoulder, and it was with a gasp of pleasure that he +remembered that provisions were inside. Joe dragged them out, and, +just to show his independence, gathered some sticks and lit a fire. +Water was what he wanted now, and a search for that commodity told him +still more of his own condition of mind on the previous evening; for +his way took him along the track he had himself formed, and presently +he came to a part which looked very much as if a circus horse had been +driven there, and forced to carry out all sorts of evolutions. Tracks +led through the underwood to right and left, crossed one another, and +joined sometimes so that two or three were side by side. In one he +came upon his rifle, a find which caused him pleasure; but where the +outlet was, in what direction he had been coming when he reached this +spot, Joe could discover not the smallest inkling. +</P> + +<P> +"Anyway, there's water," he said, filling the kettle which he carried +slung to his belt, and which had received a sad battering in the +forest. "Jolly glad I've got the tea—that'll put life into me—then +I'll have to think this matter out; shouldn't wonder if a shot wouldn't +bring an answer." +</P> + +<P> +It was a brilliant idea, and cheered him wonderfully. Let us say, too, +that Joe needed cheering. In spite of his undoubted courage, and of a +naturally cheery disposition, the terror of the intense silence of his +huge prison sometimes almost got the better of him. It was with an +obvious effort that he beat down the feeling. Retracing his steps to +the fire and busying himself with his cooking preparations helped him +wonderfully, and when at length he had swallowed a hot cup of tea and +had eaten a couple of grilled slices of meat he felt distinctly better. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll try a shot now," he told himself, "then I'll think matters out. +I wonder in what direction I came—beats me hollow." +</P> + +<P> +He was in the act of loading, for he had withdrawn the cartridge popped +into his gun on the previous evening, when a sound suddenly reached his +ears and caused him to sit bolt upright. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" he asked himself. "Hank or Mike or Fox perhaps. Hope so." +</P> + +<P> +There it was again, the noise made by a man thrusting a way through the +underwood. Joe gathered up his belongings, stamped out the fire, and +went off in that direction. Bang! Crash! He heard the noise time and +again, and getting nearer. It seemed, indeed, as if someone were +coming towards him. Perhaps five minutes later, when, convinced of the +fact, he had thrown himself down to wait and watch, the figure of a man +came into view, seen somewhat indistinctly between the maze of leaves +and branches. +</P> + +<P> +"Mike!" thought Joe. "About his size. No; too small, though it's a +big man but less bulky than Mike. Can't be Hank. Then who is it? +Hurley!" +</P> + +<P> +The knowledge that the murderer was actually before him sent a rush of +blood to Joe's head. His ears throbbed and buzzed, his pulses beat +spasmodically, while his heart thundered against his ribs. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe climbed silently to his feet and raised his rifle. He now could +see the man approaching him better, and could no longer have any doubt +as to who it was. It was, without a question, the murderer whom he had +fought outside the shack in defence of Tom, the very man Hank and his +fellows, with Mike, the policeman, had been following now for such a +time. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley! Still escaping! Then Hank failed to get him! Where's his +gun?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe peered through the leaves and branches, and presently caught a +glimpse of the weapon which it was known the murderer carried. He bore +it before him, fending brambles away with it as he went. That gun, no +doubt, was loaded, and Hurley still able and willing to slay anyone who +dared to intercept him. What was Joe to do? Let him go? Funk the +business, or call to him and chance a bullet? +</P> + +<P> +"Nasty thing if he hit me here; nobody would know. I might be badly +wounded and help never reach me. Rotten that, very!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe shivered. We are describing his feelings and his actions with the +utmost truth and fairness, and truth compels us to say that he +shivered. He looked about him doubtfully, seeing nothing but leaves +and waving branches and underwood, with the figure of a man he knew to +be already a murderer breaking a path through the forest quite near at +hand, while a rifle was borne prominently before him. Bear in mind, +too, that Joe had had a terrifying experience already, that he still +bore a wound given by the bully, while his scalp was sore and his brain +still dizzy with the collisions he had experienced on the previous +evening. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll miss me by fifteen feet," said Joe, measuring the distance with +his eye. "If I like to stay quiet he'll be by in a jiffy, and +then—then I'll be safe!" +</P> + +<P> +He could have kicked himself for the thought; the blood flew to his +cheeks again and shamed him. He clenched his teeth and bobbed his head +higher. +</P> + +<P> +"Frightfully tempting to funk the meeting," he told himself wrathfully; +"but I'll not be such a coward. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley!" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +The man stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting into sudden prominence. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-168"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-168.jpg" ALT="JOE SURPRISES HURLEY" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +JOE SURPRISES HURLEY +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Hands up!" bellowed Joe, keeping well hidden. "Hands up or——" +</P> + +<P> +There was a loud report which reverberated through the wood, while a +rattle overhead told its tale unpleasantly. A shower of severed leaves +sprayed on to Joe's head, while he listened to a curious click with +which soldiers are familiar. +</P> + +<P> +"Loading again—might get me next time. Shall I plug him?" he asked +himself. +</P> + +<P> +Very cautiously he lifted his rifle, and with it his head, which he had +ducked at Hurley's shot. But where was the man? There was no sign of +him. He had disappeared entirely. +</P> + +<P> +"Dropped down where he was, and is waiting and watching. Dead certain +he isn't moving," said Joe, "or I'd hear him. I'll wait and watch too." +</P> + +<P> +Presently his patience was rewarded. A black sleeve came into +view—only a tiny triangle showing—then the muzzle of the weapon. Joe +levelled his own on the sleeve and called again loudly. +</P> + +<P> +"Drop that gun, Hurley," he shouted roughly, "or take the consequences!" +</P> + +<P> +The answer came so swiftly that he was astonished, and once again our +hero had the unpleasant feeling of a bullet passing within close +distance of him. Under the circumstances it required nerve to kneel a +little higher, take aim just a foot below the spot where he had seen +that sleeve, and press his own trigger. Then, like a dart, he sprang +away, and within a moment was located behind a stout birch tree, which +gave excellent cover. +</P> + +<P> +"Got him, I think," he gasped. "There was a shout directly I fired. +Wonder if I killed him?" +</P> + +<P> +The thought set his ears tingling and a nasty cold feeling down the +centre of his back. Joe wasn't bloodthirsty by any means. He hated +the very thought of killing a man; but here it was decidedly a case of +Hurley or himself. Softness and pity would be thrown away on such a +villain; the smallest advantage allowed would certainly end in his own +undoing. It was with the utmost caution, then, that our hero peeped +out from behind cover, while his fingers were busily employed in +thrusting a fresh cartridge into his rifle. Moreover, he listened +eagerly for any sound which might tell him that Hurley was moving. Joe +had, in fact, an artful and cunning foe to deal with, and quickly found +that he was very far from effecting his purpose, also that the murderer +was by no means likely to give in without a struggle. For as he peeped +from behind the shelter of his tree a figure rose suddenly, a weapon +was fired, and at the same instant down went the figure. +</P> + +<P> +"Thunder!" he exclaimed, using an exclamation which Hank was in the +habit of employing. "That was a near one; chipped a nice little piece +out of the bark of the tree and—yes, perforated the butt of my rifle." +</P> + +<P> +Very cautiously he peered round the tree again, and then, with a sudden +feeling of elation, caught sight of a black object slowly rising above +the undergrowth. Joe dropped his sights on it and pressed the trigger +steadily; but, to his amazement, the black object continued to rise for +the space of a few seconds, then it dropped just as suddenly out of +view. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" he grunted. "A decoy! Lifted his coat on a stick and drew my +fire. Two can play at that game." +</P> + +<P> +But even if he were to follow Hurley's example, caution and cunning +were still required. Joe dropped on to hands and knees and then spread +himself face downwards on the ground. In that position he wormed his +way along some three yards to the right, where he again took cover +behind a tree, and on this occasion he lifted his head with the +greatest care. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll be watching the tree where I was located," he told himself, "and +if I wait a little he'll show himself, seeing that I don't put in an +appearance. Then will be the time to aim straight, for I am sure that +if I don't take the fullest advantage of every opportunity he will +shoot me down." +</P> + +<P> +"That 'ere young cub that was the cause of most of my trouble," growled +Hurley, as he lay on the ground awaiting developments. "Wall, it might +ha' been wuss; I kin knock him out easy ef I'm just ordinarily +cautious, then there won't be no one in the way. I'll double the hull +way back—that's what I'll do—get along to the railway, and board a +freight train. Down by Niagara Falls there won't be no difficulty in +hoppin' across the suspension bridge, and afore these fools is much the +wiser I'll be hid up in Buffalo." +</P> + +<P> +His keen eye detected Joe's new position, and, watching closely, he +soon saw a portion of the latter's clothing projecting from behind the +tree. Up went his rifle, and an instant later the clothing fell to the +ground. With a shout of triumph, Hurley stood to his feet, only to +drop back again like a stone; for Joe was undamaged. He had merely +played Hurley's trick upon himself, and now that the opportunity had +come to him, he stood out from cover and fired direct at the man. +Unfortunately, however, he was too late, his bullet tearing on through +the undergrowth. +</P> + +<P> +"The young cuss!" growled Hurley, startled by his narrow escape. "But +I'll get even with him yet. Ef he can play a game same as that, see me +foller." +</P> + +<P> +He thought it all out as he lay there in the underwood, and then once +again selected a suitable portion of a fallen branch. This time it was +his wide-brimmed hat which he raised slowly above the leaves and ferns. +But though Hurley peered from amidst the tangle of boughs and leaves, +he could see no sign of our hero. It was an intense surprise to him +when there came a flash and a loud report from the left, from an +altogether different position, while his hat twiddled round on the +branch he had thrust into it. +</P> + +<P> +"Jingo! He's shootin'!" he told himself, with a growl. "Lucky my head +warn't in there. But I ain't done, not by a long way. I'll try the +trick agin, and then I fancy I shall have a surprise fer that 'ere +Britisher." +</P> + +<P> +Very slowly he proceeded to elevate his hat again, and this time so +soon after the last that he guessed that Joe would hardly have had time +to change his position. So that it was again a shock to find a bullet +swishing rather from the right. However, Hurley was a man with an iron +nerve; moreover, he knew what awaited him should he be captured. +Straightway leaping to his feet and trusting to Joe not having had time +to reload, he dashed into the bush and, seeing our hero, threw himself +upon him furiously. Nor did he deign to make use of his own weapon. +Dropping it as if it were no longer of use, he gripped Joe with both +hands and, swinging him aloft as he had done once before, he prepared +to hurl him against a tree. Indeed, he almost carried out that +intention; but Joe managed to curl in his legs and so escape. +</P> + +<P> +"You're jest about dead this time," gasped Hurley. "You'd have done +far better to have stayed right at home with the kids, which are yer +place, than have come out here to take grown men. That'll finish it." +</P> + +<P> +But the second swing he gave didn't finish the matter. Joe was a +tougher foe to deal with than Hurley imagined, for, locking his arms +round the murderer, he defied his every effort to lift him. But all +the while he was conscious of the fact that the man was a great deal +stronger than he, and that unless he could deal him a vital blow, his +own chances were far from good. It was at this critical moment, when +the two were once more struggling fiercely and had rolled to the +ground, that a man came darting through the underwood. Dashing up to +the combatants, he placed the muzzle of his old gun against the +murderer's head and called loudly on him to surrender. +</P> + +<P> +"You may jest as well throw it up, Hurley," he said, with wonderful +coolness, "fer I guess you're cornered. 'Sides, ef you're troublesome +you're like to get the sort o' dustin' a feller don't take to kindly. +So jest turn it up. Joe, get a hold of his rifle. Now, my man, you +stand there agin the tree and don't try hanky-panky. I ain't +particular whether it's the law that deals with yer or me. Savvy?" +</P> + +<P> +Hurley did; he unloosed his grip of our hero promptly and, now that the +tables were turned, stood cowed and subdued in front of Hank, eyeing +his old muzzle-loader askance. As for Hank, he grinned at Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"It war a near call, lad," he said. "Strange that it should be you as +really cornered him. But keep yer eye on him and yer finger on your +trigger. There ain't never no saying when he'll be up to games, though +it won't be often he'll play 'em once Mike's up. He could lift this +hulkin' feller as ef he war a baby, and my, wouldn't he give him sauce!" +</P> + +<P> +Some twenty minutes later Fox put in an appearance, and after him Mike. +Hurley was promptly secured, his hands being bound behind his back, for +Mike had lost his handcuffs, while a stout cord was passed from the +lashings and secured to Fox's wrist. Then the party wended their way +through the forest, and in a wonderfully short space of time came to +the hut in which Hurley had taken refuge. Here their comrades joined +them in the evening. +</P> + +<P> +"It war a close call," said Peter, when he had heard of Joe's +adventure; "but I ain't quite clear as to how it come about that you +was out there in the forest all alone. Spin us the yarn." +</P> + +<P> +"I was lost, that's the simple explanation," answered Joe, telling them +how he had dashed hither and thither in a frenzy, and how a collision +with a tree had in the end sent him senseless to the ground. "And a +mighty big bump I've got to show for it," he added ruefully. +</P> + +<P> +"You're jest mighty lucky to have one to show at all, young feller," +growled Hank. "I ain't been in these parts without meeting with +similar cases. I've known young fellers, and oldish men too, go off +into the timber and never come back. I've seed a ghost of one crawl +back after a week, and he as mad as a hatter. What's more, I know what +the feelin' of bein' lost is. An old hunter same as me don't never +feel like that. When I war young it war different. Nowadays I could +find my way out anywhere. I'd do as you did, doss down fer the +night—so I reckon that blow you got war lucky,—then, when morning +came, I'd watch fer the sun, and I'd go ahead always in one direction; +but it seems to me as ef supper war ready." +</P> + +<P> +"One moment," said Joe. "How was it you came upon the scene so +opportunely, Hank?" +</P> + +<P> +"How? Jest like this, and simple enough. This 'ere Hurley give me the +slip, and shot out into a glade. Wall, a bit of a rattle as he passed +over a stony patch told me the direction he had taken, and precious +soon I had picked up his traces again. Seems he took to the lake, +straddling a log he found there and pushing out. But the wind war on +this shore and brought him back. Early this mornin' I dropped on his +traces and found as he'd turned south. Mike come along with Fox at the +same moment, and reckon we set out fer all we war worth. It war then +that we heard a shot, and then others. That set me movin', and—wall, +that's all." +</P> + +<P> +He closed up like an oyster, and actually blushed when Joe continued. +"Not all, Hank," he said earnestly; "you saved my life. I'm grateful." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! Ef I ain't that hungry!" shouted Hank, springing to his feet +hurriedly. "George, ain't you got them steaks frizzled yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ready," came the answer, while George held a stick to which the steaks +were skewered aloft. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll eat," growled Hank, as if he had recently had a quarrel +with our hero; "and mind, there ain't no more gassin'." +</P> + +<P> +"He aer fair set on you," whispered Peter, after the meal, taking Joe +aside. "He knew you was in trouble, and I tell you he wouldn't rest. +All night he war searchin' for your traces, and ef he hadn't bustled, +guess he'd have reached you too late. Hank aer the queerest little +morsel as ever I set eyes on." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a fine fellow," declared Joe eagerly. "Some day I'll get even +with him." +</P> + +<P> +The following morning they mounted again, and in due course reached the +settlements, where the party divided. +</P> + +<P> +"Hank's comin' along to stay with us," said Peter. "How's that, young +'un?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ripping!" Joe meant it; he had taken a huge fancy to the little +hunter, and hoped, if he were lucky, to learn a great deal more from +him. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll do that right enough," laughed Peter, when our hero told him. +"Hank aer a troublesome feller. It ain't often that I hear of him that +he ain't been in some adventure. Jest you watch to see that he don't +drag you in too. I don't altogether trust the little varmint." +</P> + +<P> +"Drat the man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike. "Joe was a steady worker afore +he came here; but now, bless us! he's always wantin' to be off into the +wilds and forests." +</P> + +<P> +And go Joe did. He worked all through the summer and autumn, helping +Peter to get in his harvest, and learning much about farming; then, +leaving Tom, the lad for whom he had fought, as Peter's man in his +place, he packed his bag and rode off with Hank on a prospecting +expedition. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Investing Hard-earned Dollars +</P> + +<P> +Barely six months had passed since Joe Bradley took passage to Canada +and became one of the ever-growing army of immigrants who yearly ascend +the mighty St. Lawrence river and are scattered throughout the +provinces of the Dominion. The days had flown since his landing, and +but for that long chase of Hurley, the murderer, scarcely an event had +happened to break through the orderliness of his day's duties. No +longer was he a greenhorn, either. His knowledge of farming as it is +practised in England may be said to have been still extremely small, +but of farming in the Dominion he knew almost enough to manage a +quarter section of his own. +</P> + +<P> +"Not that I advise it," said the cautious and knowing Peter. "You're +over young yet to face the worries which must come to a landowner, and +you could do with more capital. So you take the advice of one who's +tried, and go as a labourer a bit longer. Meanwhile, you could put +that 'ere money you've saved into something likely to make it grow +whilst you're prospecting with Hank." +</P> + +<P> +Joe had, in fact, saved quite a respectable amount, for it must be +remembered that his personal expenses were extremely small, while his +wages were good. Moreover, the dollar bills which Hurley had stolen +from him had been recovered when that individual was captured, though +the precious letter left him by his father seemed to have been lost for +ever. +</P> + +<P> +"It war a piece of luck, I do declare," said Peter. "Ef he'd gone off +along the railway there would have been a different tale to tell. Joe +aer fortunate to have come out of that mess with his life, and still +more lucky to have got back his dollars. As to the letter, there ain't +no saying if it war valuable. P'raps not; least, that's what I'm +hoping. And now the thing's to invest his savings so as they'll grow +while he's away prospecting. Seems to me, Hank, as ef this here place, +as well as the settlement right up agin the railroad, might soon get +big. The land's good for working. The crops this year has been +first-class, and some of our boys has won prizes for their wheat. +There's Jim, fer instance. His was nigh the heaviest yield per acre +that there's been recorded, while the grain weighed mighty heavy to the +bushel. In course the papers prints and publishes all these things, +and people gets to know. There's been strangers hereabouts looking fer +sections to take up come the summer. Wall?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank was not the one to give an opinion offhand. He cogitated a great +deal, and as a rule his faithful little pipe helped him considerably, +or rather it appeared to help him, for it was his invariable custom to +fill it on such occasions, set fire to the weed, and sit crouched into +a ball, holding the pipe between two of his shapely fingers while he +stared into the open. In this case there was no open, for they were +seated in Mrs. Strike's parlour, and Hank had perforce to stare into +the open stove, which is part and parcel of every settler's dwelling. +</P> + +<P> +"Never did see such a man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike impatiently. "He's +all movement, you tell me, when he's off in the forest; but here, when +you want his advice, he jest sits down and blinks, till you feel as ef +you could shake him. I ain't got no patience with the man." +</P> + +<P> +Peter grinned widely; he was accustomed to his wife's ways—and Joe +also—knowing well that it was all playfulness on her part. As for +Hank, the little man whom nothing daunted, as a rule, he pulled heavily +at his pipe and looked as if he might take to his heels and run away. +He glanced askance at Mrs. Strike, till the good woman smiled at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm only teasing you," she explained, with a laugh. "But, dear, dear! +you do amuse me. Seems to me as ef I shouted you'd be scared almost +out of your life." +</P> + +<P> +That set Hank grinning also—a nervous grin—then he became solemn, for +matters which concerned the welfare of Joe needed the utmost attention. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm with you, Peter," he said at last. "Down by the railroad +things'll move soon. A few dollars laid out in town plots wouldn't +come to harm, while ef we was both to apply for quarter sections right +here, we could sell 'em at the break of winter to new settlers anxious +not to be too far out. What about Hurley's, by the way?" +</P> + +<P> +"That aer fer sale now," came the answer. "He didn't do much to it, +and there don't seem no one wanting it just now, which are natural, +seeing that winter's here. Come next spring it'll be asked for." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there's Joe's chance. Ef he ain't got enough dollars, I'll chip +in with him. Eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ready and willing," agreed Joe. "I like the idea immensely. Hank and +I are off into the woods prospecting, and we're not likely to want much +cash. Seems to me it's a wise thing to put what I have where it may +grow during my absence. I'll apply for a quarter section right here. +It's a condition of the Government that all settlers shall fence their +sections in a given time, and break so much of the virgin ground. I +can't do that now, as we have hard frosts, and things are too cold for +working. In the spring, if I like to, I can tackle the job. If not, I +can sell; then I'll buy Hurley's if I can, and sell that again also." +</P> + +<P> +Buying and selling is the life and soul of Canada. Land speculators +purchase from the Government with the sole idea of selling to those who +follow, and see in the land for sale something with greater attractions +than that offered free by the authorities. Again, men must fail in +such a country, and here and there are always to be found those +unfortunate enough to have to offer their sections, on which they may +have expended much toil already. Whereas a quarter section of virgin +land, extending to one hundred and sixty acres in all, may be of little +value when unbroken, broken and fenced it is almost always of +considerably enhanced value; for breaking and fencing mean the +expenditure of labour, and labour is terribly hard to come by at times +in the Dominion. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go along and see into the matter to-morrow, then," said Peter, +when the question had been further discussed. "Jest throw on a log or +two, Joe; it's cold enough to freeze one even inside the shack." +</P> + +<P> +Those few days which followed gave our hero some idea, though not a +complete one, it must be acknowledged, of the life of settlers in +Canada during the long and severe winter which visits the land. There +are those who dread the winter. One meets occasionally a man who has +returned to England because of the Canadian winter, because of the +inertia it brings to great stretches of the country, stopping all +outside work, and, on the farms, cutting off neighbours from +intercourse with one another. At other times it is the loneliness and +silence of the life which send would-be settlers away; but not very +often. There are scores and scores who put up with the winter as we in +England put up with decidedly dispiriting weather, resting tranquilly +and passing the idle hours as best they can, knowing well that a +glorious summer will surely follow. +</P> + +<P> +"Not that there's fogs and suchlike," explained Peter, when telling Joe +of the life. "Most days its beautifully sunny and bright, though the +thermometer may be down below zero. And as to stayin' indoors all the +while, that we don't. Most of us has knocked up runners, on which we +put the rigs when we've stripped the wheels from 'em. Jim down below +thar being a bachelor, with plenty to spend, and being also a good bit +of a sportsman, has dogs, and his team drags him from shack to shack, +specially round about Christmas. Even the school children get to +school on their snowshoes. There ain't no difficulty about that +neither, onless the weather's too altogether bad, for the Government +build schools fer each settlement. There only wants to be a matter of +seven children, and up goes a stone-built school, and a mistress who's +properly trained for the job gets a lodging in the nearest shack, or in +the school itself, and starts off to teach the youngsters. As to work, +wall, I finds heaps. Winter's jest the time for papering the walls of +the shack or fer doing a bit of painting. There's furniture wants +making, and last winter I and the hand that stayed with us built a new +stable. This time I'll whitewash all the outhouses, as well as the +fowlhouse." +</P> + +<P> +"And for me there's enough and to spare to keep me from being idle or +from grumbling," interjected Mrs. Strike. "There's the house, in the +first place, with the beds to make and sichlike. There's food to be +cooked fer all, including the chickens, which have hot stuff every day +through the winter. And ef I'm dull with looking at Peter there, I've +only to go to the telephone and ring up Mrs. George Bailey. A real +nice woman that, Joe. She's a help to her husband, she is, and that +can't be said of every woman who's come out from England and has lived +her life till then in a villa just outside London, with never any +greater difficulty to provide for her family than that of stepping +along the street to the nearest shop. If they was all like her, +there's many settlers would be more successful." +</P> + +<P> +It was clear that Peter and his wife could have kept on discussing this +theme for an hour or more; and to those who knew them it was equally +certain that these two worthy souls practised exactly as they preached. +They had faced the difficulties and the privations often met with in +greater number by early settlers, and they had succeeded. Peter was a +man who, thanks to hard work and a genial temperament, had made a +success of his quarter section, so that the land which had lain bare +for centuries before was now entirely tilled, and yielded handsomely to +his efforts. In fact, from the position almost of a pauper, the man +had advanced to a point where he earned a handsome income that was more +than sufficient for his needs, and allowed him to put by many dollars +during the course of a year. +</P> + +<P> +"And it ain't finished there," he told Joe and Hank gleefully, when +dilating on the subject. "There's the quarter section. It's worth a +tidy heap of dollars—more'n a thousand pounds in English money—and +that's what I could get any day of the year. But I don't stand still, +not never." +</P> + +<P> +"I've had my eyes around, and have gone in as a partner with a brother +of mine who came out to Canada at the same time. We worked together +for a while, then he went west into British Columbia. Wall, he took up +fruit land when irrigation wasn't much more'n dreamed of and, with +dollars I put to his, bought two sections close handy. They're gold +mines. He's been able to get labour, and seeing that he has a large +family of sons and daughters able to work and help, why, it's only +needed honest work to tickle the soil and put in the trees to turn over +a fine penny; the land does all the rest. It's that fertile it grows +astonishing crops of apples, while peaches, strawberries, and sichlike +do thundering well. Tom—that's my brother—was mighty wise and lucky +too; he took up ground within easy reach of Vancouver, so that he +always has a close market for his goods, putting aside the fact that it +allowed him to watch things going on, and buy other bits of land when +he thought they were likely to go up in value. That's where some of my +dollars has gone. Me and the missus will be sellin' up one o' these +fine days, and going west where it's warmer." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was bound to admit that the cold did not trouble him. Not that the +winter had as yet set in in full severity, though there had been heavy +frosts and a fall of snow; but, as Peter had told him, he always found +work to do. Even those few days before departing with Hank were +strenuous ones. There were logs to saw for the stove, for the huge +iron thing which warmed the shack, and which is essential to a Canadian +winter, ate timber wholesale. Then there were the cattle to be tended +to—for they required feeding, since they could not graze for +themselves—there were the pigs also, while always water was wanted +inside the shack, and must be drawn from the well which had been one of +Peter's labours. +</P> + +<P> +Of an evening, too, while the weather was so open, George and his +brother, Jim and other neighbours would drive over, and there would be +a jovial supper, followed by a dance, when Mrs. Strike bustled Joe +tremendously, till the rough furniture was cleared aside and the +boarded floor made ready for the dancers. Then it was Hank's turn, and +sometimes Jim's, though Hank was the one who usually obliged. Seated +cross-legged in a corner, his face as serious as if he had an army of +Redskins after him, the curious and lovable little fellow would bend +over his concertina and send forth such notes, that dancing became easy +even to the most clumsy. +</P> + +<P> +Those were jolly days. The jovial and friendly fellow who had come out +from England had found not a set of desperadoes in the settlers of the +Dominion, but men and women just as he had known at home, with only the +difference which climate and environment necessarily bring. Hard +workers, they liked Joe because he was like them in that, and because +of his modesty. They liked him, too, because of his open admiration of +the country of his adoption and the life he led. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef they was all like you there never wouldn't be any squabbling," said +Peter; "but Canadians is getting to understand the Britisher better. +He's coming out in greater numbers now, and sense he and we are the +backbone of the country, why, we're fools if we ain't friends." +</P> + +<P> +It was on a bright, clear, frosty morning that Hank and Joe climbed +into Peter's rig and, with that worthy driving, set off for the nearest +station. Mrs. Strike wiped her eyes as they went, for she was +genuinely fond of them, while Tom shook Joe's hand as if he would +wrench it off and hold it as a keepsake. An hour later they were +aboard the train, and could see Peter driving back home to the +settlement. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess he's a good fellow, and deserves to succeed," said Hank, +settling himself into a corner. "When next we see him it'll be spring +or later hereabouts, and things will have changed wonderfully. +There'll be a pile of people here compared with what's settled now. +That's always the case; every year makes a huge difference. Shouldn't +wonder if the plots you've bought didn't bring you in a small fortune; +but of course it's a toss up." +</P> + +<P> +Joe watched the surroundings as they pulled out of the station, noting +the many shacks in the distance, and the fact that nearer the railway +some of the older settlers had replaced their log dwellings by +neatly-boarded houses. It was close to some of these that he himself, +with the advice of Hank and Peter, had purchased certain portions of +vacant ground in the hope that, as time passed, a township might spring +up, and thereby make his purchases more valuable. As to Hurley's +quarter section, the winter being on them, it happened that there was +no one who cared to purchase, and Joe had picked it up at a very modest +figure. +</P> + +<P> +"You jest forget all about them things and set yer mind to the +expedition we're after," said Hank, after a while. "Fust we goes along +to Sudbury, where we can buy all that we want; then we sets off for +Fennick's. Guess we'll put in a week with him, and then strike off for +the country we're after. Maybe we'll get a bit of huntin', and seems +to me we should be wise, for a pelt or two will be useful for +bedcovering. Of course you've got to be able to stand the cold, +youngster. There's lots would think this job but madness. But a man +can easy stand the winter ef he's in hard condition, and particularly +ef he's in amongst the forests. As to bear, why, seeing as they +hibernate, there ain't much chance of meeting the beasts, though it do +happen sometimes that one of them gets disturbed, and then, ef he ain't +too sleepy, jest you look out fer ructions. I don't know of any animal +that's so tarnation dangerous as a bear, 'cept perhaps a caribou, and +he's jest every bit as bad as, they tell me, is a rhinoceros. Ever +hunted, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe was forced to admit that he had not. "Never had the chance," he +answered. "Minding a cycle shop for Father didn't give one +opportunities of going hunting, and besides, there isn't much to be had +in England, not of the sort you mean." +</P> + +<P> +Of a sudden, as they sped along in the train, his thoughts went back to +the little township in which he had spent his boyhood, till the moment +had arrived for him to emigrate. He could not help but contrast his +condition here in Canada with what it had been there, and with what it +might have been had he remained. Travel and the wide expanse of New +Ontario lands had broadened Joe's mind, as it is bound to broaden the +outlook that any traveller takes of the world. Joe was, in fact, +beginning to realize that there is some truth in the statement that +travel is one of the finest educations. +</P> + +<P> +"In course it is," asserted Hank, when he broached the subject, with +the idea of starting up a conversation with the little hunter. "How +could it fail to be? Don't I know the lives of them stay-at-homes. +They work hard, no doubt. They does their whack of toil that helps to +make the earth turn round, as you might say, and keep things hummin'; +but, 'cept for the papers and sichlike, they ain't got two ideas as to +what other people's like, what they does with themselves, and how they +lives. And there's more, too, ef I could tell you. Stay-at-homes is +sometimes narrow-minded. Narrow-mindedness gives rise to suspicion, so +that it follows that men who are ignorant of one another's affairs and +of all that concerns 'em is often not too good friends. That's how it +is with nations. One don't know the other, and suspects all sorts of +things. Wall, see what's happenin'. The railways and the steamships +and them motor cars has made a deal of difference. People move about a +heap these days and see other people. So they get to understand 'em, +and, understandin' them, they see as they ain't much different to +themselves; also, they see that their intentions are just as friendly +as their own. And what follows? Why, better understanding, and the +way is paved to international friendships. Dear, how jawin' do tire a +man! I'm on fer a smoke." +</P> + +<P> +He shut up like the proverbial oyster, leaving Joe to go on immersed in +his own particular brown study. He was wondering now what the Fennicks +had been doing with themselves, for though he had had a few lines from +them, he had had but the scantiest information; he had heard, in fact, +that they had settled, and that was all. Whether they had been +fortunate in finding exactly the class of surroundings they desired, +and whether the land they had chosen was rich, he had no idea. This he +knew, they were a two-days' march from the railway, so that he and Hank +had a long step before them. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess we'll fill up at Sudbury," said Hank, after a while. "There's a +gun wanted fer you, and ammunition for both of us. A shooter, too, +ain't out of the way. We shall require warm clothing, too, though +we'll trust to our shooting to get us pelts and make the most of those. +A kettle, a fry-pan, and a few sich trifles will fill our kit, and then +we'll step it to the Fennicks'. Guess we ain't so far from Sudbury +now." +</P> + +<P> +They found all they required in the town to which they had booked on +the railway, and laid out quite a number of dollars in buying +necessaries for their journey; for Hank insisted that salt, sugar, +coffee, and tea were as necessary to them as were bullets. Each bought +three pairs of thick socks, as well as roughly-fashioned fur gloves. +The cooking equipment presented no difficulties, while neither bothered +to buy extra boots. +</P> + +<P> +"They'd load us up, that's all," said Hank; "besides, they ain't no use +with snowshoes. You wait a bit till we're well away. We'll bag a few +beasts that will give us skins, and then ef Hank can't make moccasins +and caps and sichlike, why, all his eddication in the woods is lost. +We've got enough as it is to carry, and come the time we reaches up at +Fennicks' we'll be sorry we brought so much." +</P> + +<P> +"What about some sort of covering for the night?" asked Joe, who was as +yet ignorant on such matters. +</P> + +<P> +"Coverin'?" asked Hank, scratching his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; surely we shall need it. It'll be frightfully cold, that is, if +the story I have heard is true." +</P> + +<P> +"True enough, lad," agreed Hank; "only, yer see, you and I'll be movin' +every day, and exercise on snowshoes warms a man's blood. I know lots +of young fellows who go off from their farms when snow's lyin' +everywhere and the thermometer is 'way down below zero; but their +shirts is open in front jest as ef it war summer, while they ain't got +no use fer gloves. We'll be much the same, while at night a lean-to—a +double lean-to, you understand—made by driving two forked sticks into +the snow and laying one across the forks, with others leaning up agin +it, will give us a crib that couldn't be beaten fer warmth. I kin hear +folks that stays at home always shiverin' talkin' of rheumatism; but +there ain't nothing of that. A man who starts healthy through a +Canadian winter can keep healthy. Of course there's blizzards, and +nasty, dangerous things they are! I've laid in one of them lean-to +shacks as I've mentioned fer a week together till the snow was piled +deep over the top, and would ha' broken through ef I hadn't crawled out +every few hours and beaten it down. Cold? It warn't! It war hot +inside that 'ere crib. As fer lonely, wall, to some folks it might be, +but to me and mates like me—no, not bit! There's always a gun wants +cleaning; logs has to be broke and the fire kept going, and there's tea +and sichlike to prepare; while in between a man's got his pipe, and can +smoke and think. Thinkin' ain't bad fer a man, nor fer a woman, ef it +comes to that. There's many a time 'way back in my life when I might +ha' done different and better. Wall, then, rememberin' that aer good; +it's a sort of eddication. Then there's friends that you've knowed and +had high times with. Guess it's when a man gets stuck up in a +blizzard, with only his pipe to smoke, that he gets thinking of his old +pals, wondering what they're doing, where they are, and how the world +aer going fer them generally." +</P> + +<P> +"But what about frostbite?" asked Joe, for that was a bogy which had +been presented to him in glaring colours. +</P> + +<P> +Hank laughed, a silent little laugh which shook every inch of his frail +body. "Them old woman's tales was invented to scare new folks out from +home," he said. "There's frostbites and there's frostbites. I ain't +saying that they don't exist, but a hunter don't often get 'em, unless +he's held up somewheres and can't get cover. His blood runs strong and +hot most times, and the frost don't touch him. But it's the man who +ain't used to the cold, and who huddles up in a shack most of the day, +that gets bitten. Ef he's sensible, or has sensible friends, it don't +make much harm to him. Ef not, like as not he loses a toe or a finger, +or maybe a foot, though it's rare, so far as I'm able to reckon. You +ain't likely to get bit; a chap same as you, who's always on the hop, +gets his blood runnin' all the time. Don't you give a thought to it, +Joe." +</P> + +<P> +Having stayed in the town sufficiently long to complete their +equipment, Joe and Hank finally took the track for that part of the +country in which the Fennicks had settled. The weather was still quite +open, though cold. But the bracing air agreed wonderfully with them +both, and though there was not the smallest need for haste, they +stepped out strongly, sending the miles rapidly behind them. It was +some distance outside the town that they came upon a party of +travellers riding in, and recognized Mike, the policeman, as one of +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Hallo, Mike!" sang out Hank. "Been after more of them 'ere murderers? +How'd the case go with Hurley? This here Joe ha' been waitin' case he +should be called for evidence; but he heard a while ago as he warn't +likely to be wanted." +</P> + +<P> +The face of the huge policeman, already tanned a deep colour, went red +under his tan, while an expression of annoyance flitted across his +features. +</P> + +<P> +"We made a muss of that 'ere thing, Hank," he declared. "Joe wasn't +called for the simple reason that the folks who'd taken Hurley in +charge let him give 'em the slip. He got clear away, and I'm jest now +returning after a chase. He's gone—where, I don't know. But he's got +clear, which aer a bad nuisance. Jest you mind that you don't come up +agin him. He's not the one to forget old scores, and he'd rub it in ef +he'd the power. Wall, so long! I must get back and report; someone's +going to get trouble over this business." +</P> + +<P> +They parted where they had met, Hank and Joe pushing onward still at a +sharp pace. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm jest sorry that Hurley got clear," said Hank, after a while, as if +he had been thinking the matter out. "He's a bad man aer Hurley, and +bad men away in the wilds are apt to bring trouble to people. I've +knowed one who took up with a party of Redskins wandering in the +forests, and, gee! he didn't stop at anything. He'd made bad trouble +before the police rounded him up and shot him down. Let's hope we +shan't knock across this Hurley. Now, lad, guess we'll do another mile +or so and then fix our camp fer the night. Looks ter me as ef it might +snow, so we'll be wise to make all snug and tidy." +</P> + +<P> +They came to a halt finally beside a small wood, and, penetrating to a +part where the trees were of considerable size, deposited their +belongings on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't do to camp where it's damp, in the fust place," explained Hank. +"Where there's muskegs the trees soon rot, and ef a wind springs up you +might have the trunks coming about your ears, to say nothing of rotten +branches. This place is high and dry, and the trees, being stout and +well inside the wood, will stand up to a gale. Now fer that shack I +was talking about. Look out fer a tidy long-forked stick, and fer +other straight ones to lay across." +</P> + +<P> +Hank was evidently a past master at all that appertained to camping, +for even without Joe's aid he would soon have erected the shack. +Taking two forked sticks, he drove the straight end in each case as +deeply into the ground as he was able; a third was laid over the forks, +and then a number were allowed to lean against the one laid +horizontally. Thus a species of <I>tente d'abri</I> was constructed, and a +roofing quickly put to it, by the simple means of slashing off spruce +twigs and branches and laying them on top. +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't always enough," explained Hank. "Ef there's a bad wind, it +would blow all them branches away. But it don't take long to cut turfs +or to peg the branches down, whichever you've a fancy for. Seein' as +the ground in here ain't over-hard, we'll take turfs; the wind won't +hurt 'em, and ef it turns to rain instead o' snow, why, not a drop'll +fall through. Now fer a bed—one between us, mate, for we'll be +companions in every way. A pile of these spruce twigs will suit us +well; then we'll light the fire and get the kettle going. A pot of tea +with a morsel to bite won't come amiss after our march. How do yer +think you'll like prospecting?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe did not think; he was emphatic about the matter, for the farther +they went the better he enjoyed the trip. He busied himself now with +the fire, for, during the chase of Hurley, George Bailey had taught him +much that concerned the culinary portion of a camp. Then he produced a +small loin of pork, and, cutting portions from it, soon had them +sizzling over the flames. +</P> + +<P> +"My, what with the smell of these here spruce boughs and that 'ere +pork, it makes a hunter's mouth jest water!" declared Hank, sitting +down to watch Joe, and smoking the pipe which he loved so much. "See +here, youngster, while you're gettin' supper ready I'll collect a few +more logs. There's never any sayin' what sort of weather we may have, +and ef we was short of firin' we'd have to eat cold grub, which ain't +over fanciful, I kin tell you." +</P> + +<P> +By the time he was back in the camp Joe had a number of pieces of pork +cooked, and was fain to admit himself that the smell of cooking them +was most appetizing. Then, as the shades of night drew in, he and +Hank—as strangely an assorted couple as one could well come upon—sat +down in the entrance of their humble shack and, wrapping blankets about +their shoulders, ate their supper, enjoying every mouthful of it as +others cannot do, even your gourmet set before the most recherché meal +that was ever invented; for an active open-air life gives zest to +everything. Your traveller does not complain of the toughness of his +steak or of the weakness of his tea. He is thankful for all that is +set before him, and with appetite sharpened by exercise, and tastes +unspoiled and unpampered by a multiplicity of viands and etceteras, +eats heartily, thankful that there is food to be had, mindful perhaps +of other times when he went hungry. +</P> + +<P> +"Wind's turned," stated Hank, as he rose after supper. "It's got away +round, and we're in for a north-easter. That mostly brings snow, so I +shouldn't wonder ef we was buried nigh the mornin'. That means +snowshoes, and it aer a lucky thing that I brought all the fixings. +There's many as buys their snowshoes. I ain't one of them. Ever sense +I was as high as a table I've made 'em myself. Throw on another log, +Joe, and let's get snug down inside. And jest for a moment have a look +at our shack. You can see that I've faced it so that the opening looks +west and south. Ef there's snow from the north-east it won't enter so +easy, though, in course, there'll be eddies in here amongst the trees, +and some of it'll be blowed in." +</P> + +<P> +Tossing branches on the fire, Joe soon joined his comrade, when the two +wrapped their blankets round them and were quickly asleep; but at +midnight they were awakened by noise without, and crept to the exit of +their shack. +</P> + +<P> +"Blowin' moderate," said Hank, "and my, ain't it snowin'! Lucky +there's a moon. It makes it look as ef the weather wouldn't be +outrageous." +</P> + +<P> +Joe was enchanted when he looked out into the forest. It was his first +real taste of a Canadian winter; for here, besides the cold blast which +whistled amongst the trees, there was snow. Flakes eddied and twirled +everywhere. They came sidling down upon the shack as if afraid to +disturb the campers. They had already formed a white carpet over the +ground, while many a branch was groaning beneath the added weight. +Under the rays of a pale, wintry moon the scene was simply enchanting. +</P> + +<P> +"Beautiful!" declared our hero. "And just fancy being in camp at such +a time! It would make them all sit up and have fits away back in Old +England." +</P> + +<P> +"It'd make men of some of them that needs changin'," grunted Hank. +"You jest wait a tidy bit. This ain't nothing to what we'll get before +we've done with the winter. But let's creep back agin'. It ain't too +warm outside, and reckon the inside of that 'ere shack aer as +comfortable as a feather bed under the roof of a palace." +</P> + +<P> +It was, in fact. Joe's head hardly touched the heaped pillow of twigs +when he fell asleep, and slumbered on, oblivious of the increasing +sounds without and of the silent snowflakes settling overhead. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +The Canadian Winter +</P> + +<P> +"It aer jest blowin' an almighty gale, and there ain't nothing to do +but feed and make our snowshoes," said Hank, when early on the +following morning he and Joe looked out of the shack. "It aer a lucky +thing fer us that we brought a tidy-sized piece of pork along with us, +'cos this gale might last fer days. Not as I think it will, but it +might; and ef we hadn't had plenty of grub, gee! it would ha' been a +bad case." +</P> + +<P> +Such a prospect met Joe's gaze when he stood to his full height and, +having helped to throw the snow away from the entrance of the shack, +peered over the white edge before him! The trees on either hand were +heavily laden with snow. Branches here and there had crashed to the +ground and lay in an unrecognizable heap, save for a twig here or a +stronger bough there thrusting a way upward into the light; for all +around everything was covered, smoothly clad in an all-pervading +vestment of white. Gorgeous blue shadows lurked here and there, the +faintness of the colouring adding to its beauty. Long icicles, beside +which those to be seen in England were but babies, hung from branches +already overweighted, one, a ponderous fellow, drooping to within a few +feet of the shack; for the heat of the fire had melted the snow as it +fell upon a branch above, and had produced this monster with the help +of the frost. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin get in at breakfast," said Hank, looking about him with the +manner of a man who saw nothing extraordinary about the transformation +which had arrived since the day before. "The fire's been out this two +hours, so you'd best start another." +</P> + +<P> +Joe showed his want of experience at once, for he began to rake away +the snow, so as to get down to the ashes of the fire he had built on +the evening of their arrival. But Hank stopped him with a merry guffaw. +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't the way," he said. "You start buildin' yer fire right here +on top of the snow. It'll eat its way down. Yer see, ef you was to +begin right down in a hole, there wouldn't be any sorter draught, and +how's flames to get in at the damp wood ef you don't have draught to +help 'em? But once they get movin', and things is hot, why, in course +the fire burns its way slowly downward to the ground level, when there +ain't sich draught required." +</P> + +<P> +It was one of the sort of things Joe and many another new to this +country, and to such quaint surroundings, would never have thought of, +though he was quick to see the reason in Hank's explanation. He +arranged his logs, therefore, on the top of the snow, and then removed +them once more. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" asked Hank, who seemed always to have one eye for our hero, +whatever he happened to be doing himself. "What are the game now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too much draught, that's all," grinned Joe, blowing on his fingers, +for an icy wind whirled the flakes about him. "Too much of it, Hank. +Blow the fire out or set our shack alight. Fine that'd be—eh?" +</P> + +<P> +The little hunter grinned widely and nodded vigorously. "Good fer +you," he shouted. "I've knowd chaps as would ha' taken a month o' +Sundays ter spot that. There's some as is jest almighty windbags, and +go about talkin' so much that they can't think, let alone allow others +that has a mind to. There's something in bein' silent at times, Joe. +A man ain't a fool 'cos he stays quiet takin' in things as they happen." +</P> + +<P> +He sniffed the air as Joe's pork steaks began to frizzle, and looked up +from the work he was engaged on when the kettle began to send out a +merry tune, heard in spite of the howling wind. Steam whistled from +the spout, and was the signal for Hank to step across to the canteen +and extract the tea leaves which were to form their staple beverage +during the trip. +</P> + +<P> +"Tea aer comfortin'," he had said many a time, "and tea aer sustainin'. +There ain't a one as I knows of that don't drink tea and feel better +fer it. In course there's a few as is ill and find it hurts 'em, but, +gee! you get to thinkin' of all the old ladies who swears by a cup! As +fer hunters and prospectors and sich-like, tea don't hurt none of 'em. +Summertime, when it's cold, it quenches thirst better nor anything I've +met. And winter, when it's that cold you can't feel yer hands, why, a +tin dish of the stuff warms yer right down into yer boots and sets toes +and fingers tingling. Pitch in the dose, lad. I'm that set this +mornin', seems to me I could eat all you've cooked single-handed, and a +tidy slice more in addition." +</P> + +<P> +It was all good-humoured fun, and Joe found that Hank was a splendid +travelling companion; for he had proved time and again now that he had +a means to get over more than ordinary difficulties, and that whatever +the times, pleasant or foul, he was genial and bright, always looking +on the right side of misfortunes. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, jest as soon as you've cleaned up these here things, we'll finish +off the shoes and try 'em," said Hank, when they had eaten their fill. +"I brought along these two sets of frames from home, they being the +ones I made this four year back. The strip to go across 'em war to be +had back there in the settlement, and all we've got to do is to bind it +on. Ever been across snow afore, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe had to acknowledge that he had not. As he melted snow in his +kettle and washed the few tin utensils they carried with the resulting +water, he watched the busy fingers of the hunter threading raw hide +strips through holes bored in the tough, bending wood which formed the +frames of the snowshoes. Then he was shown how to lash them to his +feet, while a little later he essayed to test them, and, clambering out +of the hollow which they now occupied, joined Hank on the snow. But +Joe did not remain long there; a projecting bough brought his attempt +to a sudden ending. One shoe caught badly, and before our hero knew +precisely what was happening or where he was going, he took a header +into the soft snow, till Hank could merely see a pair of shoes waving +wildly above it. +</P> + +<P> +"You jest try agin, and take care of snags comin' up from below," he +cautioned our hero. "This here snowshoein' ain't really difficult. A +fellow soon gets the knack or hang of it, and then he can go across +frozen and snowed-under country quicker'n he could walk ef the ground +was hard and he jest in boots. You stick to it, mate; nothing was ever +larned but what caused trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Joe did stick to it, in spite of the wind howling about him, and though +he took many a tumble, there was nothing in that soft, unfrozen snow to +do him injury; and in course of time he became more handy. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't done badly fer one lesson," said Hank encouragingly. "Best +give in for a time now and go inside the shack. It aer snowin' a +trifle harder, and sense it's gettin' dark too, it seems to me as ef +the wust war before us. We'll smoke and sleep; a long rest won't harm +either of us. 'Sides, there's heaps we could do. Now, see here, Joe. +I don't rightly know much about England, nor more'n a little bit about +Europe. Jest you get in at the job and tell me about it all. When +you're tired I'll yarn to you all about the other provinces in Canada, +for I've been in most of 'em. It might turn out handy for you, for one +of these days you may be going west. They say out here that a settler +in Manitoba or Ontario stays jest so long as is wanted to make enough +dollars, then he streaks off west and takes to fruit farming, or +settles nigh to Vancouver. In course he goes so as to have more folks +about him, and also because the winter is a good deal less severe. Fer +me, give me this sort of thing; I ain't afraid of winter." +</P> + +<P> +Hank was a cheery individual to have to deal with and Joe found him, as +one might have expected, a most attentive and intelligent listener. It +was well, too, that they got on so easily together, for the gale lasted +some twenty-four hours longer, though snow ceased to fall long before +the wind had subsided. This change was followed by a sudden rise in +temperature and then by a fierce frost. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't have been better fer us," declared Hank. "That 'ere thaw +made the snow soft and sloppy on top. Now it's all ice, and it aer +likely we shall be able in parts to walk without snowshoes. In any +case, the shoes will hold us up over the deepest drifts, seein' that +there's now a firm skin all over. Guess we'll move come mornin'." +</P> + +<P> +Busy always, for he could not sit down, in spite of his own statements +to the contrary, and remain idle, Hank that evening, with the aid of a +torch of the yellow birch bark, instructed Joe how to fashion +moccasins, the soft leather socks and boots combined, with which all +trappers and hunters are shod. Using some of the same hide which he +had employed for the snowshoes, he laid out a pattern in a few moments, +and then, with the small blade of a knife to bore the holes, and a thin +lace of the same material, laced the sides of the sock together. +</P> + +<P> +"In course, like that it ain't waterproof," he said, "and though +trappers ain't so very careful, yet ef you've to march miles in +moccasins, and has to sleep in 'em during the night, you might jest as +well have comfort and dry feet. We'll march along in these to-morrow. +It'll be easier than using snowshoes, for the surface is nice and hard. +Soon as we kill a beast or two we'll make ourselves an extra pair, so +as to have a change." +</P> + +<P> +A brilliant wintry sun flooded the landscape as the two emerged from +the forest on the following morning, and Joe got some idea of Canada's +appearance once winter has set in. Everywhere a mantle of snow covered +the ground, while trees, bushes, and rocks were clad in a thin coating +of ice following the thaw. As for the surface of the snow, it was +harder than that so much in request for skiing in Switzerland. The +sharp thaw had liquefied the surface for a depth of perhaps half an +inch, and this was now frozen hard. +</P> + +<P> +"Likely as not there'll come another thaw," said Hank, "and in a jiffy +almost all this snow'll go, and the country be jest as it war before. +But that won't last long. Now that November's set in, we soon gets +winter fer good, and then it ain't till late March that there's a sign +of its ending. Sometimes it's later; sometimes earlier. But once the +snow's down, we gets bright days same as this often enough, and though +the thermometer may show thirty and forty degrees below zero, one don't +seem to feel it. Now, lad, put yer best foot forward; we ain't goin' +to fetch up at Fennick's to-night. This here snow'll delay us; but +ter-morrer, somewheres about noon." +</P> + +<P> +With their packs slung over their backs, and each one using a strong +stick, the two went away on their journey, sometimes travelling over a +smooth expanse which must have been the surface of some frozen lake, of +which there are many in that part of Canada, and at other times +plunging into forests. The backwoods, in fact, extended as far as the +eye could reach, with open spaces here and there. Joe enjoyed the +journey amazingly. Think of the delights of such a new experience. +Well clad, and in suitable clothing, he was as warm as a toast, while +the unwonted exercise and the crispness of the frosty air made him step +out as he had never done before. Hank even was hard put to to keep up +with his young comrade. +</P> + +<P> +"Blest ef you won't tire me one of these fine days," he cried, calling +for a halt. "It's them long legs of yourn; they takes you along over +the snow quicker'n mine. Do yer feel lonely, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe shook his head with marked emphasis. "Not a bit," he said, "though +if I were by myself I might very well do so. But there's something new +to look at all the while, and the sun is so jolly. Still, I can +imagine a farm hand, stuck away in some place right away from the +villages or townships, eating his heart out if he had never been used +to the wilds." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so; and that's why it is that bad tales of Canadian winters gets +out of the Dominion and reaches the ears of those thinkin' of +emigrating. It stands to reason that ef you take a young fellow that's +lived in a thickly-populated town all his life and plank him away right +in the wilds, he aer likely to feel lonesome come the winter, specially +ef he ain't got move enough on him to find a job or so to occupy his +time. He'll get thinking of the picture palaces and sichlike he might +be able to see ef he was back in a town, and he gets grumbling. Even +married folks do. I've knowed a chap go half crazy long afore the +winter was ended—but then, there you are!" +</P> + +<P> +He raised his eyes significantly, for Hank had experience of what every +old settler has seen amongst newcomers. The life in the Dominion is +new to them. The winter is cruelly hard, without a shadow of doubt; +but grumbling does not help matters. Those who are ready to grumble at +their surroundings find the winter more than trying. Those who have +their hearts in the new life, and the firm resolve to persevere and be +successful, make the most and the best of what cannot be avoided, and +in place of longing for old conditions, for the amusements of a town, +settle down to find tasks to occupy their attention. As Hank had told +Joe before, and Peter also, there was always furniture to be made for +the shack. The winter months, when the shack was as warm as possible, +was just the time when papering and whitewashing could be done. There +were, in fact, a number of jobs to keep idle hands busy, to help pass +the time, and to aid settlers to happiness. However, if the winter +were hard elsewhere, Joe found this, his first experience of it, most +exhilarating. He trudged along blithely, whistling often. It was a +couple of hours after noon, when they had eaten and were on their way +once more, that something occurred to interrupt the journey. They were +thrusting their way noiselessly through a wooded glade, when Hank +brought his companion to a stop. +</P> + +<P> +"There's been moose hereabouts," he told Joe, pointing to the snow. +"You could tell it blindfold, for though there ain't no footmarks, +there's deep holes. Yer see, a moose is that heavy and his feet so +small comparatively, that the hard crust of snow that's frozen ain't +strong enough to hold him up. He goes through deep ef he's making a +new track, while ef he and his mates has been along afore, there's a +deep hard path that there ain't no mistakin'. There's been jest one +along here; it's likely they has a yard 'way up here." +</P> + +<P> +"A yard?" asked Joe, ignorant of what that might be. "What's a yard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Jest a place to which moose flock every winter almost. In course it's +more or less open ground what's known as a 'barren', and there is +always heaps of the class of trees and moss on which they feed. They +congregates and treads the snow flat, and lives there till their food +is eaten; then off they goes to form another. Jest you slip along +easy, lad; a bull moose ain't the sorter fellow one asks to come up +aginst." +</P> + +<P> +A mile or so farther on it was evident that the moose whose tracks they +were following, and who happened to have preceded them in their own +direction, joined a well-worn track which plunged at once into forest. +It was then that Hank again came to a sudden halt. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you hear that sort of cough?" he asked. "That's a bull moose fer +sure; 'praps we'll come in fer some shootin'. Anyway, reckon we'll get +our guns unslung and ready in case." +</P> + +<P> +Slipping cartridges into the breaches of their rifles, the two +proceeded cautiously, and before many minutes had passed heard a +succession of sounds which puzzled Joe immensely. Someone might have +been thrashing the trunks of the trees with a heavy stake; at times the +sounds were almost metallic, while now and again an angry cough came to +their ears. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a moose bull fer sure," whispered Hank. "Yer see, the wind's +fallen and there ain't a breath, else he'd have scented us long ago; +what's more, there's been something happenin' to upset his temper. +Bull moose aer the angriest, fiercest things as ever I clapped eyes on. +One moment they'll run at the very shadow of a human, and next they'll +charge with their heads up and their spreading antlers ready for the +enemy. Hark there, he's 'sounding'!" +</P> + +<P> +When our hero had the latter term explained to him, he gathered that it +meant that the moose, scenting an enemy or a rival bull moose, perhaps, +had halted and was thrashing some tree stump with his antlers, till a +succession of blows sounded through the forest, for all the world as if +lumbermen were at work with their axes. Then followed a series of +lower-toned noises. +</P> + +<P> +"He aer fairly working hisself up fer a fight," whispered Hank, +crouching behind a trunk. "That 'ere bull moose aer laying into the +trees with his fore hoofs, and lucky we are that it ain't us. Their +fore hoofs is just edged as sharp as any axe and would cut badly, while +a dig with the antlers would kill a man. You kin lay it as sartin that +there's another bull moose around. Mayhap there's been a cow moose +a-callin'. That's brought two of the others along, and now, ef I ain't +altogether mistaken, there's likely to be an almighty ruction, for it +ain't in reason fer one moose to give way to another; they're terrible +fighters. Jest about this time o' the year they're in grand condition, +and fights take place constantly. I ain't never seed one, but I've +come up to moose as was in them as was nigh killed. Come along +quietly; we may have a peep at what's happenin'." +</P> + +<P> +Creeping on through the wood, the strange sounds which they had heard +were for a time altogether absent. But it was not for long, for a dull +croaking cough suddenly reached them from an opposite direction, and +was followed instantly by loud and furious "sounding" and by a huge +clatter that told of falling branches. Ten minutes later Hank put up +his hand and slank in behind a thick mass of underwood. +</P> + +<P> +"Look away over there," he whispered hoarsely. "He aer hidin' jest in +amongst the trees, and another challenge from his rival will bring him +out. Ain't he layin' into the trunks and sichlike?" +</P> + +<P> +The noise made by the furious beast became in fact even greater, while +there was a commotion amongst the branches and withered leaves which +still clung in places. A second later there came a croaking roar from +some point to the right, the trees in that direction were thrust +asunder, while a magnificent beast pushed its way into the clearing. +Joe's eyes opened wide in amazement, for never had he beheld such a +sight. There, standing erect before him, was one of the wonders of the +Dominion; in fact, one of the deer tribe peculiar to Canada, which, +unlike ordinary deer, noted for their timidity, was obviously the +reverse. A coat of shimmering black clothed the beast, setting off a +neck and shoulders which were decidedly massive; huge palmated antlers +of enormous breadth crowned a head which was large, like other portions +of this animal, and extremely fierce in aspect. Grand upper limbs +supported on slender lower ones, both streaked with orange lines, were +finished off by shapely hoofs, which, as Hank had said, could be +extremely dangerous. The animal made a truly magnificent spectacle, +and Joe could have continued gazing at him for a considerable time. +However, there was more to come yet, for of a sudden the leaves away to +the right parted, and a second moose bull, bigger if anything than he +who had already appeared, came striding into the arena. +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be a fight that'll be worth watchin'," whispered Hank, his face +set with excitement, his eyes blazing. "See 'em charge." +</P> + +<P> +It took perhaps less than a minute for the two rivals to take stock of +one another. A glance at either showed that their courage was raised +to the highest and their tempers ferocious. Then they charged +furiously, their heads down and their formidable antlers to the front. +The shock of their meeting could have been heard a mile away, while Joe +could easily hear their loud hissing breathing. Rising very cautiously +so as to obtain a better view, he looked on spellbound while the two +massive beasts fought for the victory, sometimes with their antlers +locked, and then, separating for a little space, only to dash forward +once more and come into contact with a crash which vibrated through the +forest. It was at one of the moments when they withdrew from one +another, as if to gather strength for another charge, that the brute +Joe and Hank had first come upon suddenly threw up his head and gazed +in their direction, causing both of them to crouch lower; then there +came a bellowing roar and a commotion there could be no +misunderstanding. +</P> + +<P> +"He's scented us and is charging," cried Hank, leaping to his feet. +"There ain't nothing for it but a tree. Quick, Joe; climb into one!" +</P> + +<P> +So sudden had been the change, that our hero was altogether taken aback +and, as it were, robbed of his energies. He could be quick enough at +other times, but now, when there was urgent need for haste, his feet +seemed too heavy, while as yet he had hardly taken in the danger of the +situation. It was when he saw Hank's active figure already shinning up +a tree that Joe awakened to his own position. By then the moose was +within some ten yards of him, its head down, coughing and bellowing +angrily. +</P> + +<P> +"Dodge him! Dodge him!" shouted Hank, now astride a branch and looking +as if he were about to leap down to aid his comrade. "Don't try to +climb, or he'll cut you to pieces with his hoofs. Dodge him, lad!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe heeded the warning, and, darting to one side, took cover behind a +slender oak which happened to be there. But if he thought it would +protect him he was much mistaken, for the moose charged madly, and, +striking the tree with head and antlers, broke it off short at the +bottom, sending the other portion and our hero flying together. In +fact, the whole thing was a huge surprise, and might well have been +expected to rob Joe of his wits altogether. But a sharp pang in his +shoulder as the trunk struck him heavily seemed to sharpen his +energies, and, leaping to his feet, he raced at once to another tree +and sheltered behind it. Then began a chase that was anything but +amusing, for the moose bull struck repeatedly at him, making the tree +shake, and sending the sound of his blows echoing and reverberating +through the forest. He rose on his hind legs and slashed fiercely with +his fore legs, ripping long strips of bark away. It looked, in fact, +as if any one of his rushes might take Joe unawares, and that his +dodging behind the tree might come to a sudden ending. As for Hank, he +was entirely helpless, for it was this selfsame tree in which he had +taken refuge, while his own and our hero's rifles lay behind the thick +underwood where they had been hiding. However, the little man was not +the one to give in without a struggle, more particularly when Joe's +life might depend upon his efforts, and presently a brilliant thought +came to his aid. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-216"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-216.jpg" ALT="THE MOOSE CHARGED MADLY" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +THE MOOSE CHARGED MADLY +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Jest keep dodging him," he sang out encouragingly. "Ef he ain't +reached you yet he ain't likely to. Jest keep well clear of his hoofs +and out of sight of the brute as much as you can. He ain't as fresh as +he war, and that'll help us." +</P> + +<P> +The cunning hunter rapidly unwound the long piece of raw hide that he +had cut for use on the snowshoes, and which, having more than he +required, he had carried with him since, in case of renewals being +wanted. Perhaps he had as much as eight feet, perhaps there was less; +but, in any case, it was as tough and strong as any rope ever +constructed. While Joe continued to dodge the angry moose, now +escaping his attacks with comparative ease—for he had regained his +coolness—Hank made one end of his rope fast to the tree, looped the +other, and then crawled out on the branch. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest get him to come dodging round this way," he said hoarsely. "Ef I +hooks him, you make a run fer one of the guns, and then climb into the +nearest tree. This rope won't hold him overlong, but it'll do to let +you get clear. Now, I'm ready." +</P> + +<P> +Joe merely required to show himself plainly for the maddened moose to +come dodging after him. The huge antlers, as hard almost as steel, +struck the tree a resounding clang, then the fore feet were used till +strips of bark were flying. Slowly Joe edged round the trunk, luring +the animal after him, till a lucky move brought the moose directly +under Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"Git ready!" he shouted, at the same time dropping one foot and kicking +the antlers. Instantly the beast raised his head, and like lightning +Hank slipped his noose over one of the broad branches. +</P> + +<P> +"Run!" he bellowed. "Don't ferget the gun, or we'll be both of us +fixed for days together." +</P> + +<P> +It may be imagined that Joe did run. He dashed across the open space +to the spot where their rifles were lying, turning his head to see what +was happening. If he had felt less confidence in the little hunter, +there is small doubt that he would have neglected to pick up a weapon; +for the fury of the moose on seeing his movement was terrible. It +lowered its head and dashed after him, till the strong hide rope +brought it up with a jerk that threatened to snap the noose. Then +began a mad struggle on the part of the moose for freedom. Rearing up +on its hind legs, it struck out with its fore feet, almost reaching the +bough on which Hank was seated. It backed and tugged, it fell to the +ground, trusting by those means to tear itself free; then it dashed +this way and that, arrested on each occasion with a mighty jerk that +actually shook the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Even a chain wouldn't stand much more of such tugging," shouted Hank, +watching Joe anxiously out of the corner of his eye. "You be slippy +with that gun, lad, or else we'll lose him. Ah, that's a relief! He's +into a tree. Now, wonder what sort of shooting he'll make. Say, lad," +he called out loudly, "take him when he lifts his head, and put a +bullet into his shoulder jest about where the neck joins it. Steady, +Joe; you're puffed. Pull yerself together." +</P> + +<P> +If our hero had attempted a shot then, there is little doubt but that +he would have missed entirely, for what with the active movements of +the moose and his own trembling fingers, a sure aim was more than +difficult. However, he did as he was ordered. Bracing his legs round +a branch, he brought the butt of his weapon firmly to his shoulder, +then, choosing a moment when the animal lifted its head, he sent a +bullet crashing into it. A yell from Hank told him, even before the +thin cloud of smoke had cleared away, that he had been successful. +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you! Killed him dead!" Joe heard, and, looking down, saw the +huge bulk of the animal stretched on the snow, thick steam still +issuing from the nostrils. +</P> + +<P> +Let us be strictly truthful again with regard to our hero. Joe was +shaking in every limb as he dropped to the ground and stood over the +fallen animal; for excitement had told upon his nerves, as yet +unaccustomed to such strenuous moments. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to be ashamed," said Hank, seeing that Joe looked +downcast. "I've seen many an older chap all of a shiver with +excitement when the thing was over. The main thing aer that you kept +your head and held your sights straight when they was wanted. This +here exhibition will have given you a good idea of the moose that roams +about Canada, and next time you meet one don't wait too long for his +charge. I've known a man to be skewered on those antlers afore you +could shout, and killed jest as dead as possible. Reckon we'll skin +the brute and take his head. It'll be a fine gift for the Fennicks." +</P> + +<P> +They spent the remainder of the day in skinning the moose and in +removing the skull and antlers. Indeed, they camped beside the +carcass, not troubling themselves about the other brute, which had +retreated at the very beginning of their adventure. That night, for +the first time in his young life, Joe cooked moose steaks over the fire +and ate of meat of his own getting. +</P> + +<P> +"Prime, ain't it?" grinned Hank, as he devoured a savoury morsel. "But +you wait; there'll be more huntin' before we've done with this here +expedition." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XIII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Co-operative Proposition +</P> + +<P> +It was rather later than they had anticipated when Hank and Joe arrived +at Sam Fennick's shack on the following day; for again a thaw had set +in—not the "silver thaw" so much prized in Canada, which they had +previously experienced, and which, by freezing the upper layer of snow +and, as it were, laying a sound crust upon it, had enabled them to make +good progress, but a thaw unaccompanied by change, or, to be exact, not +followed by a succeeding frost. They finished their journey, +therefore, through a snowy slush, sinking often above their knees, +while their moccasins and their feet were wringing wet and very cold. +</P> + +<P> +Shouts greeted them. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, if it ain't Joe!" came from Sam heartily, in his well-known +bellowing tones, while the ineradicable cockney accent was obviously +there; in fact, it was an accent of which Sam was proud. It was +something never likely to leave him however long he remained in Canada, +and however much he interlarded his conversation with Americanisms. +"Missus, it's Joe!" he shouted, turning his head over his shoulder. +Then he dashed forward, seized our hero's hand, and squeezed it till +the latter almost winced. +</P> + +<P> +"Howdy?" he exclaimed, swinging on Hank. "Introduce us." +</P> + +<P> +"Hank," said Joe shortly, "hunter and trapper, a friend of mine. Hank, +this is Sam Fennick; but——" +</P> + +<P> +"In course I knows Sam," cried Hank, stretching out his wiry little +paw, but one, nevertheless, which could give a grip that would make a +strong man squirm. After all, outside the polite society of London and +other large cities, where very vigorous handshaking is not looked on +with favour, men often enough, the rough men of the plain, the prairie, +the backwoods farm, and of the forest, exchange greetings with an +earnestness there is no denying. Such men do not simper and dangle +nerveless fingers before a stranger. They stand facing squarely, +looking closely into the other's eyes, and when their hands meet, and +their fingers grip the other's, the firmness of the grip, its vigour, +its unflinching support of the return pressure somehow conveys +something of the character of one man to the other. Hank had treated +Joe in that way. To a man such as Hurley, whom he did not like, whom +he suspected to be a craven, Hank merely waved or nodded; for he had +his own views of what was proper, and they were far more exact and far +more straightforward than one would have imagined. +</P> + +<P> +"What! You, Hank—me old pal!" shouted Sam, delighted beyond measure, +and almost hugging the little hunter. "You along o' Joe? How's that? +He been doing something fer you, same as he did fer us?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank asked an abrupt question. "What?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't he never let on about the fire aboard ship, the rumpus there +was, and how he led the volunteers?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nary a word. Peter—Peter Strike, that is—did tell me a tale, but he +warn't too sure of it. The young cuss is that silent when it comes to +hisself. But he's been doing well. Sam, let's get these wet things +off us, and something hot inside, and then we'll gas. Gee! Ef that +ain't Mrs. Fennick! Howdy, maam? Here's Joe." +</P> + +<P> +The good woman almost embraced our hero, for she felt like a mother to +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Come right in and let us hear all about you and your doings," she +cried. "And Hank Mitchell too! I'm that glad to see you both, and Sam +has been waitin' these many days for you to arrive. He's got a scheme +for the winter." +</P> + +<P> +The grinning master of the shack accompanied the visitors into the +interior of the shack, and there stood, first on one leg and then on +the other, while Joe and Hank looked keenly about them. It was to be +expected that a man of Sam's energy, a Canadian settler who liked +things to be right, should have erected a dwelling which should be +fitting for his wife. Besides, there was reason for even greater +magnificence. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess you've been hard at work," said Hank, looking about him with +twinkling eyes that nothing escaped. "This here shack's meant to last." +</P> + +<P> +"It's that and more," cried Mrs. Fennick, pride in her tones. "Sam has +built for a purpose. This shack's too big for what we want; he planned +to have an office." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" asked Hank, turning on the grinning owner, who had flushed to the +roots of his hair for all the world as if he were a schoolboy. "What's +this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Part of the scheme, lad," came the answer. "Jest you two get seated +and pull off those wet moccasins; then, when you've got dry socks to +your feet and has had a bite, I'll get to at it. It's a fine yarn; +I've dreamed of it this past five years." +</P> + +<P> +No amount of persuasion would drag from Sam what his scheme was till +Joe and Hank had eaten, and the latter had lit up a pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin fire in at it, Sam," said Hank at length, in the crisp little +manner which was so distinctly his own. "I kinder gathered from this +here Joe that when you came along up here prospecting it warn't with +the idea of the ordinary farm. Maam, it's plain to see as my old +friend has nigh worked his fingers to the bone." +</P> + +<P> +Once more the little hunter's eyes went round the large parlour in +which he and the others were seated, while Mrs. Fennick and her husband +followed his glances with frank pride staring from their own eyes. Nor +could Joe help but admire all that he saw; for he and Sam had been +parted but a matter of a few months, and in the course of that time the +latter had pitched upon a suitable holding for his farm, and had cut +the timber for his shack, besides erecting the house. As to the +latter, it was far bigger than the ordinary shack erected by the +settler. There was a parlour, a kitchen, and three bedrooms, while +attached at one side was a large office. +</P> + +<P> +"Where we'll have the telephone afore you kin look round," declared +Sam. "It's jest like this. Me and a mate or two agreed to go along +together into New Ontario and pitch upon a spot that was likely to open +up. Wall, we took the line the branch railway was following, though +there's not one save those in the know behind the scenes, who kin say +exactly where it'll run. Still, me and the others prospected a heap +till we came along here. What with the difficulties of rocks to the +south, and big, straggling elevations, it was clear as the rails must +follow the valley, and there warn't more'n one for 'em to take. So we +prospected along it till we came here. You jist come outside the door +and you'll see what I'm after." +</P> + +<P> +He led the way to the door of the shack and pointed to the north across +a narrow stretch of country bounded on either hand by elevated land, +and seamed along a straggling line running a little to one side of its +centre by a thin strip of blue which, here and there, was entirely +covered with snow. As for the landscape itself, it was difficult to +tell its aspect exactly, in spite of the thaw, for snow lay deeply in +most parts. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" asked Hank curtly, looking about him and taking in every +feature. "It's the top end of the valley, I kin see that. Rails +running north kin easily pass out, seeing that the two ridges on either +side don't run together. But they can't cut off to right or left. Ef +the rails comes along this way, why, in course they passes right +through this location." +</P> + +<P> +"Along by the river," said Sam quickly. "Hank, it's an easy rise all +the way. The river ain't got no current to speak of, which tells the +tale easily. As to the rails coming along into the valley down south, +why, that is almost certain, as sure as one can take it. Anyway, me +and my mates agreed that it was more than likely, and so we arranged to +take up holdings here. There's four of us already, Claude and Jim and +Joe makes seven, and come spring-time there's nigh twenty more married +men to join us." +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" asked Hank, not as yet clear as to what was Sam's meaning. +"Where's the difference between this and other settlements? You takes +up land, and the rails come along. Good! Up goes the value of the +land, as it aer sartin to do. You get a reward for foresight; after +that, where's the difference?" +</P> + +<P> +Sam had evidently sought for the question, for he rubbed his hands +together eagerly and gripped Hank's sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest here," he declared with enthusiasm. "Instead of some twenty of +us starting to work our sections separately, and going mighty slow in +consequence, we're forming a corporation. Each man who takes land will +pool money with the corporation. With that money we buy implements, +horses, cattle, everything that's needed. We divide our numbers into +parties, and come the spring one of 'em sets to work to build the +shacks, another does the ploughing, while a third'll get to at the +irrigation channels." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" gasped Hank. "This aer new." +</P> + +<P> +"Sam worked the scheme out all alone," declared Mrs. Fennick, with +energy, causing her lord and master to blush again. +</P> + +<P> +"It sounds just splendid," cried Hank. "Wall? What more? I kin see +that there's an advantage in working ground on the corporation system. +If you've got the timber cut already, it stands to reason that ten men +working on a shack can put it up more'n ten times quicker than one man +all alone. If there's twenty shacks wanted, ten men can put 'em up +heaps faster than twenty fellers working on their own. And irrigation +too! That sounds fine; it's doing well elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +Hank spoke but the truth there. A far-seeing Dominion Government and +an all-powerful railway company have already seamed portions of Canada +with canals and ditches with which water is borne to lands hitherto +useless. Their forethought has converted, and is fast converting, +barren soil into country which in parts already bears smiling crops and +happy homesteads. As for the corporate system, if the Dominion +Government has not attempted that—and one must admit that it is a +question more for individual settlers—it has at least other worthy +schemes. A would-be settler can now sail for the Dominion, to find +there a quarter section prepared for his coming, with the shack built, +the well dug, and some forty acres broken and seeded. For this he pays +a reasonably small sum down, and the rest by small instalments. Think +of the huge advantage of such a system. In place of finding naked +soil, and having first to build a shelter and then break the land, a +settler finds a home in readiness and crops already sprouting. Then +consider Sam Fennick's proposition. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer bound to go with a bang," declared Hank, pushing his skin cap +to the back of his head and scratching his forehead. "It aer jest +tremendous." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll work, I think," agreed Sam, with the natural modesty of the +inventor of such a daring scheme. "Anyway, we've got the party +together, and there'll be money in abundance. Each man will own his +own taking, and ef others come along and settle nigh us, why, we're +prepared to hire ourselves out ef there's a call and we've the time. +As for implements, me and a few of them has talked it over, and come +the spring there'll be two steam agricultural motors up here, in which +we kin burn wood. They'll each do ploughing at three to four acres a +day, and will draw the reapers and binders when it comes to harvesting. +There won't be no need to wait for a threshing gang, 'cos the tractors +will drive the machine we shall buy. They kin do wood sawing too, and +a hundred other things, besides hauling the stuff to market." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" gasped Hank, for this was a proposition which rather took his +breath away by its novelty and its possibilities. "But——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes?" asked Sam, bracing himself, as if to face any awkward questions +the little hunter might fire off at him. +</P> + +<P> +"There's the winter," said Hank. "Your corporation comes to an end +when the snow comes; you ain't thought of that." +</P> + +<P> +But Sam had; he wagged a knowing finger, while Mrs. Fennick giggled. +Indeed, it must be admitted that this cockney settler, who had come +from London and done so well in the Dominion, had proved himself more +than astute. Perhaps he had thought the whole matter out during some +past winter in Canada. In any case, he had been wonderfully close +where his scheme was concerned, for never once had he more than hinted +at it to Joe. However, the question of work in the winter had not +escaped him. +</P> + +<P> +"You listen here," he said, shaking Hank as if he were a dog. "Come +wintertime east of the rockies things mostly closes down in Canada; +even in the towns there ain't too much work. There's men wandering to +and fro searching for jobs, whereas, most times and in most places, +when there's spring and summer, there's more jobs than men." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess that aer so," agreed Hank, sucking hard at his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"But there's work in Canada that starts in the fall, and only then—eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Lumberin'," suggested Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"Lumbering it aer," cried Sam, drawling the words. "Up there beyond +the break through which the railway'll pass, ef we've any luck, there's +land that's heavily timbered. Wall, it's part of the scheme. You kin +get a timber concession from Government by paying so much on the logs +you cut, and me and my mates has taken up a tidy piece of timber +country. There's a lake twenty miles and more north into which we can +slide the logs, and there's another jest at the head of the valley. +Way south there's a quickish fall, with water in plenty, and ef all +goes well, and we kin make enough dollars, why, we'll start a mill +there and saw our timber. The rails'll be close by then, and will take +'em on to market." +</P> + +<P> +"My," cried Hank, "you've been moving!" +</P> + +<P> +"We're only beginning," said Sam. "But we starts out for a lumber camp +soon as the frost comes, and there we'll work till springtime. You +axed what we was going to do in the winter. There's the answer." +</P> + +<P> +It must be confessed that Sam Fennick's scheme was ambitious to the +last degree. But then, if one analyses it, one can see the +possibilities that Hank saw, for co-operative working is often enough +wonderfully successful where the single individual fails. Again, in a +country where labour is scarce, and profits often lessened because of +the lack of labour at critical periods; where, in fact, a man who may +have broken and sown his land with the greatest industry may see his +crops rot in spite of his energy, simply and solely because of the lack +of help to harvest them; there, in a case such as that, the +co-operation of his fellows would be all in all to him. Indeed, with +pooled labour, and a certain sum pooled by all the settlers with which +to buy implements, it stands to reason that work could be done more +cheaply, more expeditiously, and always at the proper season. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a grand proposition," declared Hank, when he had thoroughly +considered the matter. "I kin see a big saving in more than one way, +and one of 'em's this. Suppose there's twenty settlers in the combine. +Wall, now, with ten ploughs and ten harrows and seeders you've tools to +break the land. Supposing there warn't a combine; each man has his own +tools. They ain't all in use together, so some of 'em's lying idle. +That's gain number one, and don't you try to contradict me. And so +you're goin' lumberin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"We are that," assented Sam; "and seems to me you and Joe had better +come along with us. You could put in a month or more, and then go +along on prospecting." +</P> + +<P> +It took our hero and his hunter companion but a little while to accept +the invitation, the more so as Joe was already more or less one of the +corporation Sam was forming. +</P> + +<P> +"There's dollars in the scheme right through," Hank said, as they sat +round the stove that evening. "Ef you'll have me as one of the band, +I'll apply for my two hundred acres right off, paying for 'em, for I +ain't able to take up more free land. Joe's in the same fix. But he +aer got the dollars to pay. We'll come north with you and do a little +lumbering. Afterwards he and I kin move on farther, for I've a +proposition of my own to look into." +</P> + +<P> +"But——" began Joe, who had been a listener for the most part up till +now. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh! He's agoin' to criticize the scheme and pour cold water on it," +grinned Hank, swinging round on our hero. "Tell you, Sam, this here +youngster aer had his eyes opened wide sense he came out, and he's +turnin' into a business farmer. Wall, what are it?" +</P> + +<P> +"This lumbering," began Joe diffidently, colouring at so much attention +being attracted to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Just you give 'em what you think and don't be afraid," cried Mrs. +Fennick encouragingly. "The lad that could organize volunteers aboard +ship has a right to speak. Sam, likely as not he'll show you and Hank +that you've made a big error somewheres. Now, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +"I was merely asking about the lumbering," said Joe. "I always +gathered that lumberers were men who were more or less trained. They +go out in gangs, don't they?" +</P> + +<P> +"And so'll we," interrupted Sam, with eagerness. "But there ain't so +many chaps out here that hasn't had a turn with the gangs some time. +I've done a season; p'raps Hank has too." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet," came from that individual. "I've done most things 'way out +here, from gold diggin' to farming pure and simple. Huntin' aer my +proper trade, but I ain't too proud to do anything. Even when I'm my +own master I ain't above takin' on a job for someone else ef I've the +time, and the money's good enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Then there's two of us has done the work before," declared Sam. +"Eight or nine of the boys I've fixed it with to join our corporation +are already up in the woods, where we'll join 'em. They've a shack +built this three months, and no doubt they've started in felling." +</P> + +<P> +It appeared, indeed, as if the thoughtful Sam had made very complete +arrangements, and there was little doubt but that Hank, as an old and +experienced colonial, was delighted. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a fine proposition," he repeated for perhaps the twentieth +time. "When other folks is buried in the snow, and only finding work +with feeding the cattle and sichlike, we'll be cutting timber that'll +bring dollars in the summer, and be back on our holdings time enough to +plough and sow and make ready for harvest. Autumn will see us +threshing, and by the time the grain is hauled down to the railway +there'll be frosts. Then out we go again. Gee, Sam, this fair tickles +me!" +</P> + +<P> +A week later the little band of lumbermen was collected together, while +Tom Egan, a sturdy settler some fifty years of age, had arrived from +his own little shack across the valley and had taken up his residence +at Sam's dwelling, where it was arranged that Mrs. Fennick should stay +with Egan's wife and children. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer see," explained Sam, "a lumber camp ain't no sorter place for a +woman. It's rough living all the while. Men are packed together as +close as sardines, and even then it's mighty cold. So the missus stays +here with the Egans while we move on." +</P> + +<P> +They slung their traps over their shoulders, and with snowshoes on +their feet set out towards the north. The thaw of the past week had by +now given way to severe frosts, while there had been a heavy fall of +snow. However, none but a confirmed grumbler could have found fault +with the conditions, for a bright sun flooded the landscape, shimmering +on hillocks of snow, throwing long blue shadows athwart the hollows, +and causing the millions of particles of ice to flash and scintillate. +There was a dry, exhilarating crispness about the atmosphere that was +typically Canadian, a bracing coldness that made the little band step +out briskly, Hank at their head, Sam following; then Joe, and Jim and +Claude, the two young friends he had made aboard the steamer, marching +side by side. Dick Parsons, a lanky, bearded colonial, brought up the +rear, a veritable grenadier in proportions. +</P> + +<P> +They formed a merry party in their lean-to that night, and went on +their journey on the following morning with undiminished vigour. Late +the following day the crisp ring of axes coming to their ears through +the tree trunks of the forest they had plunged into some hours before +told them that the lumber camp was within easy distance. Shouts +greeted them as they trailed into a narrow clearing, at the back of +which stood a low-built shack half-buried in snow, and with its roof +supporting a vast mass of that material. Smoke issued gently from a +centrally-placed chimney, while the door was wide open. Hearty indeed +was the greeting, then the hut swallowed the whole party. +</P> + +<P> +"You've jest come along in time for tea," cried one of the lumbermen, a +bearded giant even taller than Parsons. "Sit ye down right there and +we'll give you a meal that'll show you how we've been living. Bill, +you fish out that bear's meat you've a-stewing, while we others get the +tea on the table." +</P> + +<P> +The table, let us explain, was a mere apology for that article as +civilized individuals understand the term, for your lumberman has no +time to devote to the niceties of furniture construction. Joe indeed +found himself marvelling at the crudeness of their work and yet at its +obvious utility; for split stakes had been driven into the ground down +the centre of the shack, and cross pieces nailed on top. More long +split logs secured to these formed the top of a table some two feet +wide. As for benches, they were fashioned in the same manner along +either side, and were by now fully occupied. A huge enamelled-ware +teapot was passing from hand to hand, while Bill, the cook to this +expedition, was standing at one end of the table dealing out helpings +of a savoury bear-meat stew that tickled the nostrils of everyone. +</P> + +<P> +"What about sleeping?" asked Joe presently, when the meal was finished +and the lumber gang had gathered round the open fire placed at one end +of the table. "Is there another room?" +</P> + +<P> +"Another!" exclaimed Harvey Bent, the chief of the party. "Young man, +there ain't time fer buildin' luxuries when you're lumberin', and +what's more, guess there ain't warmth enough. Time we turns in +to-night there'll be jest about room fer the lot of us, and no more. +The closer we are the warmer, and 'way out here, when the thermometer's +down below zero, that means something to men who has to work." +</P> + +<P> +Joe and his friends found that the sleeping accommodation was quaint in +the extreme. Along one side of the shack a sloping platform had been +built of the usual split logs, and piles of blankets lay upon it. +Going to bed was a simple proceeding in this lumber camp; for men +merely slipped off their boots and hats and wrapped themselves in a +blanket. Then they lay down side by side, packed closely together, so +closely, in fact, that to turn was an impossibility. But Joe and his +young friends, who were novices like himself, discovered very soon that +these old lumbermen were not without consideration. They allowed for +the possibility of a change of position, and that very night, some time +in the small hours, a hoarse command awakened them. +</P> + +<P> +"Heave!" they heard, and promptly, more asleep than awake, the band of +men rolled over on to the other side and once more settled into snores +and slumber. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a sight that'll do your eyes good," declared Hank, early on the +following morning, when the gang had eaten. "You watch these fellers +cutting down their timber. It ain't likely that you'll be wanted fer +much to-day, and so we'll take a look at 'em and then see their mates. +All of the gang ain't fellers. It stands to reason that someone's got +to deal with the timber when it's down, and has to haul it out of the +way to where the water kin deal with it. We're high up here, for we +was climbing most of yesterday, and this here shack aer located jest at +the top of a steep slope cutting sheer down to the lake that Sam +mentioned. You come along with me; when we've had a look round we kin +tackle a job with the others." +</P> + +<P> +Donning their snowshoes and taking their rifles with them—for it was +already agreed that Hank should hunt for the gang and procure them +fresh meat—he and Joe went sliding off along the hillside, and +presently, reaching a spot where the lumberman's axe had cleared the +trees, were able to get a clear view of their surroundings. Down below +them, two or more hundred feet perhaps, was a vast expanse of white, +unbroken for the most part, though here and there there was a +dark-coloured elevation denoting an island, the huge expanse being the +frozen and snow-covered surface of the lake. Beyond there was forest, +patched with snow, silent and forbidding. As for the steep slope at +that part, it was scored with a hundred and more tracks. +</P> + +<P> +"Where the logs slide down to the lake," said Hank. "Now we'll go +along and see 'em at it. My, these trees are mighty big, and will saw +into fine logs! Ef that railway comes up this way, as Sam believes, +timber'll be wanted, and the work that's being done here will bring its +own reward. Ah! there's axes! Jest you come and see how a Canadian +lumberman tackles a forest giant, and can throw the tree jest wherever +he wants." +</P> + +<P> +Joe marvelled, indeed, at the skill and the energy of the lumbermen. +Hearty, healthy fellows one and all, they went at their work as if they +loved it. Cutting niches with their axes high up the stem of a giant, +they drove wooden stakes into the crevices thus prepared, and soon had +a platform built on this somewhat insecure foundation. Then came the +ring of axes swiftly falling, a hoarse cry of warning, twice repeated, +followed by a reverberating roar as the giant succumbed to human +forces, crashing to the ground with a thud which shook the +surroundings. Joe stood by as one of the biggest of the trees tumbled, +and watched the lumbermen shredding the branches from the fallen +timber. The naked trunk was then levered with crowbars, and with a +final jerk was sent skidding and sliding down the hillside, to come to +a halt at the bottom, perhaps on the frozen surface of the lake, or at +any rate within a few feet of it. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a couple of men working down there with a hoss," explained +Hank. "They hitches on to the logs that don't reach the lake and drag +'em into position. Look away down. There's a hull crowd of timber +waitin' for the end of winter." +</P> + +<P> +"And then?" asked Joe, for he was ignorant for the most part of the +work of lumbermen. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, the ice breaks up," said Hank, "the logs gets carried into the +lake, and the 'drivers' takes 'em in hand. A mighty hard and dangerous +job theirs is, too. They has to be at it night and day, wet and fine. +Each of 'em has a long pole with a spike at the end, and their +particular work aer to send the logs down. Sometimes the stream +carries 'em all right. Sometimes they gets hung up in corners and +eddies, and the driver has to set 'em afloat agin. Then, down at the +bottom of a lake same as this it ain't so seldom that logs and ice'll +form a jam. One of the logs gets across the outlet, stuck up on a rock +or two. Others piles up behind, with blocks of ice maybe, till there's +ten foot high of logs and stuff, with a mass of water and ice and logs +'way behind. That aer a ticklish job to tackle, and many a driver has +been killed or drowned. But they ain't never afraid, and there ain't +much that they can't do. I've seed 'em hopping from floating log to +log and steering a single trunk downstream, as ef they was aboard a +canoe and not on top of a thing that'd roll over with the ordinary +feller. Now, we'll make right off out of hearing of the camp. Bill +war telling me this morning that when that bear's meat aer done, there +ain't nothing left but pork." +</P> + +<P> +It was with the keenness of a schoolboy that Joe threw himself into the +work at the lumber camp. That very evening he was told off with the +hauling gang, and for a month and more assisted in dragging the felled +timber to the edge of the lake; and never once did he find the hours +drag or the work too heavy. As for the evenings, they were a delight +to all; for your lumberman's camp is a veritable club. There, with the +door shut and a hot fire burning, the men made a circle once their meal +was finished. Pipes were filled, and clouds of smoke obscured the +surroundings, dimming the rays from the single oil lantern hanging +overhead. And what yarns those colonials could tell! Rugged, honest +fellows, they spoke in a simple manly manner which was captivating. +The boaster was not to be found amongst them; their tales were of deeds +which had actually occurred, while the truth of their statements was +apparent. As for chaff, they were never done with it. Harmless jokes +and horse-play made the evenings jovial and merry. It was thus that +our hero passed a portion of his first Canadian winter, revelling in +the brisk atmosphere and in his work, boon companion to every member of +the lumber gang. Then he and Hank bade farewell to their comrades and, +shouldering their packs, set out for the north, for a country hardly +ever explored, where danger and difficulty awaited them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XIV +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Moose Hunting +</P> + +<P> +"I'm agoin ter tell you now what's brought me away up here through the +backwoods of New Ontario," said Hank, the very evening he and Joe had +left the lumber camp and their friends, amongst whom Sam Fennick was +numbered. "I'm looking fer Beaver Jack." +</P> + +<P> +"Beaver Jack! Who's he?" demanded our hero doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I'm jest about to tell. Beaver Jack aer the cutest, +quietest, cussedest Indian that ever you set eyes on, or that ever +anyone else set eyes on either. He kin talk our language fairly well, +and he war for three years or more along with me and my father. That's +a time ago. Of late he's mooned about in the settlements during +summer, not doing more'n a hand's turn, as is the nature of the +Redskin. And winter's found him 'way up north, trappin' and huntin' +fer the pelts that keeps him in food during the summer months. Beaver +Jack and me's old friends, and with him to lead there's a chance of our +striking a country I've heard of from mates of his. There ain't been +much prospecting up in New Ontario, lad, but I've heard there's gold, +and gold mines are worth finding." +</P> + +<P> +So that was the secret of this expedition. Hank, a naturally silent +man, had said little about his intentions up to date, and Joe had but a +vague idea as to his real object. For himself, it had been sufficient +that he was to travel through the Canadian wastes with such a pleasant +fellow, and experience a life the very mention of which was most +fascinating. It can be imagined, therefore, that he looked forward to +the meeting with Beaver Jack with some anticipation, and hailed that +taciturn Redskin heartily when, two weeks later, they came across him. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd say as it aer fair wonderful that we should meet him right up +here in the wilderness," smiled Hank, as he and Joe prepared for the +night's bivouac. "But Jack aer a long-legged man, and, Injun-like, he +turns his toes in. You could tell his mark in the snow amongst a +thousand, and it ain't much altered even with snowshoes. See +there—there's my marks, there's yourn, here's Beaver Jack's." +</P> + +<P> +"With a longer distance between each one," agreed Joe. "And the back +of each shoe seems to have been trailed along the snow as he went. +There's a clean line every time. With you there's much the same, but +the distance between the shoe marks is less, while mine are broken and +the snow is irregularly marked in between." +</P> + +<P> +"So as you could swear to any one of the three any day," said Hank. +"Now, guess how it war that I steered a course so as to cross his +tracks." +</P> + +<P> +The question was one of greater difficulty, and Joe found himself +unable to answer. However, the explanation was simple enough when it +came to be given. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer like this," smiled Hank. "Beaver Jack don't never come far +into the settlements, and his line ain't never due north. Reckon he +ain't fond of coming across other Injuns that way, nor the half-breeds +that live up towards James Bay. So his line's always to the west. +Ours being north, and cutting up through the country Beaver Jack +crosses, why, in course we was bound to drop across his tracks. Had +sport this season, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +The Indian turned slowly upon his questioner and straightened himself, +for he had been bending over the narrow sledge upon which he was wont +to haul his pelts when their number became too burdensome for carrying. +The failing light of a midwinter day fell upon a scarred and seamed +face that might have belonged to a man of sixty, of seventy, or even of +eighty. The brows were drawn down over the eyes, the hooked nose +approached closely to the thin, closely-shut lips, while even the chin, +square and determined, and yet narrower than is customary with white +men, appeared to turn up towards the centre of the face. But the eyes +were the feature that attracted one. Small, and set wide apart, they +flashed round at Hank and then at Joe. At one moment they looked +severe, fierce, almost cruel; the next moment one could have sworn that +they were twinkling. As for the remainder of this native trapper, he +was clad in skin clothing of his own making. Fringed leggings covered +his lanky lower limbs, while a shirt of leather, soft and wonderfully +pliable and stained with much exposure, was over his shoulders, wide +open at the neck, the sleeves reaching only down to his elbows. The +man pointed slowly to his pile of pelts, and then, as if to speak would +be to waste words, bent down over his sledge again and went on with the +work that engaged his attention. +</P> + +<P> +"He aer a rare 'un to talk," laughed Hank. "You get almost tired of +hearin' his voice. But he kin hunt, and he aer the best man as ever I +came across for calling up the moose. Know what that means, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't an idea," answered our hero; for even now he was ignorant of +the ways of hunters. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we'll teach you, me and Jack," said Hank. "Jack, have you seen +moose tracks hereabouts? If there's some of the beasts within twenty +mile, you ain't likely to have missed them." +</P> + +<P> +The mention of something to do with hunting brought the Indian to an +erect position again with remarkable swiftness. He lifted an arm and +pointed away to the west, to where the snow-clad landscape reared +itself abruptly till, rising to a great height, it cut across the +darkening sky in a succession of jagged peaks, upon which the rays of +the fallen sun flickered, though the orb itself had long since +disappeared from sight. +</P> + +<P> +"Moose yard up there," he said abruptly; "plenty beast." +</P> + +<P> +"Then to-morrow we'll see what we kin do with 'em," cried Hank. "We +kin leave our traps 'way down here in this camp, and jest take our +rifles with us. We ain't likely to be back before the night comes, and +ef we're still out on the hills, why, in course we'll make a camp +that'll keep us warm and right till the dawn comes. Now, lad, on with +that kettle; it aer time almost for supper." +</P> + +<P> +Joe's experience of moose hunting had not been so great up to this +moment that he was not keen on a hunt. Once only, in fact, had he +encountered this huge, fierce beast of the Canadian forests, and then +the moose bull may be said to have hunted him. It was, therefore, with +a certain amount of elation and excitement that he set off with his +comrades on the following morning. Leaving their pelts behind in the +lean-to—for Joe and Hank had trapped and shot many beasts during the +last two weeks—and taking only rifles and ammunition and ready-cooked +food with them—the three turned their faces towards the west, where +the land reared itself up suddenly into a long chain of hills which +might almost be described as mountains. Trudging along in front went +Beaver Jack, as silent as ever, his face always to the front, never +turning his head by so much as an inch, and yet seeing and remembering +every feature of his surroundings. Joe noted the long swing of his +lanky legs, the sliding stride with which he carried his snowshoes from +one part to another, and the manner in which he kicked his shoes from +time to time. Then came Hank, keen and energetic, his rifle across his +shoulder, his shoes sinking hardly at all into the snow. However, Joe +found walking on this occasion somewhat difficult, for the pace the +Indian set was terrific, while a mild-tempered wind had softened the +snow which clung to his shoes, making them ponderously heavy. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady!" called Hank, after a while, arresting the rapid progress of +the Indian. "This here pal of mine are puffin' and blowin'. Yer see, +Joe, you ain't so used to snowshoein' as Jack and me, and when there's +a thaw it aer heavy work. But jest you watch Beaver Jack. He gives a +sorter kick every few steps, and so rids himself of the weight that you +have to carry. We'll rest here a few minutes, and then you kin go in +front and so set the pace." +</P> + +<P> +An hour later they began to ascend a little, while within less than two +hours the path they were making took them upward at a somewhat abrupt +angle, which made the work extremely heavy. It was a relief to Joe, +therefore, when Hank called another halt, and when Beaver Jack pointed +away along the side of the mountain. +</P> + +<P> +"We ain't likely to find moose much higher," said Hank, seating himself +beside Joe; "not because it aer too cold for 'em high up, but because +the stuff they feed on don't grow up there. Seems to me that we've a +biggish wood in front of us, and we've got to make right through it +before we shall come across their tracks. Even then there mayn't be +any of the beasts, for ef they happen to have caught sight of us, or +winded us, which aer far more likely, why, the hull crowd will have +gone right off. You could shoot a charging moose, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd try, anyway," answered Joe, mindful of his previous effort. "I +think that by now I ought to be able to hold a gun straight, and if +only I don't get too excited I ought to be able to hit a beast. I'm +ready to move on if you are." +</P> + +<P> +Once more they began their trudge across the sloping snowfield, Hank +now leading, and presently he plunged into a forest clinging to the +hillside. A wide space beyond was devoid of animal life, though Beaver +Jack declared that moose had recently been across it. Then they dived +into a narrow belt of trees, where the Indian came to a sudden halt. +</P> + +<P> +"Try here," he said. "Not sure, but think beasts near; and if we go +on, sure to hear us. Wait little—soon ready." +</P> + +<P> +"Watch him," whispered Hank; "you'll see him set to work as only an +Indian can. He's looking about for a birch tree, and with that knife +of his will strip the bark in a matter of a few minutes. I kin tell +you this, give a Redskin a knife and firelock and powder, and he kin go +anywhere and make most anything in these forests. Birch bark aer the +stuff he puts to roof his lean-to. A long strip cut from an extry big +tree, and shaped and sewn, makes him a canoe that's better than any +other craft known on any water; while, ef it's pots and kettles that's +wanted fer cookin', he can fix the business easy with his knife, and so +long as there's a tree of the right sort about. See him cut that roll +free. Now, in a jiffy he'll have a trumpet." +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack went about his work in a manner which showed that he was +accustomed to it, and came back towards his comrades bearing a long +strip of bark which he was slowly coaxing into the shape of a funnel. +Then with his knife and a few strips of hide cut from the fringes of +his leggings he tied the edges of the bark, so that the implement he +had fashioned retained its shape. A little later he bent his lanky +form, applied the smaller end of the funnel to his mouth, and blew +heavily into it. The lines across forehead and face became even +deeper. To look at the Indian one would have declared that he was in +agony, and no doubt he was making a special effort. The result was +truly wonderful. Joe had heard moose calling before, the sounds they +made echoing through the forest. And here the calls were repeated, +more loudly, it is true, since they were meant to pass to a distance, +but wonderfully realistic and lifelike. +</P> + +<P> +"Now listen," said Hank, in a whisper. "Ef there's a moose bull within +two mile of this he'll answer." +</P> + +<P> +The long, deep-toned call produced by Beaver Jack with the aid of his +birch-bark trumpet was answered by a deadly silence that nothing broke, +and though the call was repeated, it appeared as if the result was to +be similar. But suddenly the Indian stirred, while Joe saw Hank's eyes +concentrate themselves upon the forest. Then, far off, there came a +dismal echo of the sound, as if the hillside were casting it back at +the hunters. At once, without so much as a word, the Redskin slunk off +into the forest, Hank and Joe following closely. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin look for a burst of speed," whispered Hank hurriedly, turning +his head. "There's a moose bull 'way ahead, and Beaver Jack aer going +nearer so as to coax him. Jest make sure as you don't knock that rifle +against the trees, or else there won't be much huntin'." +</P> + +<P> +Silent after that, with hardly a glance to left or to right, the three +pushed on through the wood, Beaver Jack choosing, as if by instinct, a +path that avoided thick underwood, and allowed himself and his comrades +to retain their snowshoes. Slowly the trees diminished in number, till +they straggled out into the open in broken groups of two and three, and +finally singly, scattered here and there over a wide field of snow that +seemed to be unbroken and unmarked by beasts of any description. To +the left the hills reared their heads abruptly, snow-covered to the +summits, grey and forbidding, as if they resented the coming of these +strangers. Ah! The Redskin had lifted a hand; he came to a halt. +</P> + +<P> +"He aer going to call agin," whispered Hank, who seemed to be tingling +with excitement. "Ain't that 'ere Beaver Jack clever?" +</P> + +<P> +None but an expert could, in fact, have produced the impression this +seamed and lined Indian contrived at. That long, deep-toned call, +rising and falling in cadence and halting abruptly, as if only +half-completed, went booming across the snowy waste, and echoed amongst +the pinnacles above. It was followed by a second call, the tone of +which was distinctly angry, as if the beast summoning its own kind were +vexed at the want of an answer. Then, as the same faint response came +to their ears—but this time distinctly nearer—a plaintive note crept +into the summons which Beaver Jack produced with the aid of his +trumpet, till one would have said that even the most heartless of +listeners would have dashed forward promptly. But your moose is +perhaps one of the wariest of beasts. Gifted with acute hearing and +still more pronounced sense of smell, he is almost always suspicious. +The least doubt as to the genuineness of a call, the faintest suspicion +of the presence of others, will keep him sulking in the background, +hidden by the trees, or will send him dashing off madly, his huge +antlers steered with wonderful skill between the branches, so that not +so much as a sound might help a would-be pursuer. It seemed as if the +one in the far distance were of this character, as if he were +suspicious. It made no difference to his movements even when Beaver +Jack, working himself almost into a frenzy with his efforts, produced +more mournful sounds, and then struck the tree trunk beside him +heavily. Still the answering response was weak-toned and far off. +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't coming, that's truth," whispered Hank. "We shall have to get +along towards him, and this time we shall have to creep over every +yard. Ef the brute does come, you shoot, Joe. I've had many a chance; +so's Jack. Take him jest below the point of the shoulder." +</P> + +<P> +Joe gripped his rifle with both hands, and saw that the safety catch +was in position; then he fixed his eyes on his two companions. Nor was +it long before there was a movement. Beaver Jack bent double and, +thrusting the muzzle of his weird birch trumpet into the snow, sent +forth a challenge which seemed to skim curiously over the hillside and +burst into bigger volume in the distance. Then he dropped on to hands +and knees, having already kicked off his snowshoes and slung them over +his shoulders. A second later he was creeping away amidst the +scattered trees, casting more than one glance over his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"This aer a fair conundrum," whispered Hank to Joe, when the little +party again came to a standstill. "I've hunted moose many a time, and, +as a rule, ef there ain't no wind, as is the case jest now, and a +hunter aer cautious, there ain't no great difficulty in coming up with +them. Of course it isn't every Indian who can call, let alone a white +man. A Redskin is kinder born to it, and most of 'em can call same as +ef they was real moose. Guess Beaver Jack aer one of 'em. But look +what's happenin' to-day. There's no getting nearer the beast that's +answered. He's heard our call and has challenged back, but he goes off +a bit every time we move forward." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps there's something else disturbing him," ventured Joe, somewhat +baffled for an answer, cautiously raising his lips to Hank's ear. "I +notice that Beaver Jack has looked over his shoulder once or twice as +if he thought there might be something behind us. Perhaps he's heard a +call from that direction." +</P> + +<P> +"Nary a one. Ef there had been I'd have heard it," asserted Hank, with +decision; "but there may be beasts following. Ef it warn't fer the +snow you could hear 'em by listening closely with an ear to the ground +or placed hard up agin the trunk of one of the trees. But snow muffles +most sounds, especially footsteps. Ah! That 'ere beast called from a +point a little closer." +</P> + +<P> +Whatever the cause of their want of success, Beaver Jack and Hank were +not the men to give up the chase without a further effort, and without +some show of that wonderful patience for which hunters are notorious. +Time and again the Redskin repeated his call, and on a dozen occasions +the trio went forward, crawling over the snow on their stomachs. At +length, when Joe's small stock of patience was almost exhausted, the +answering call came from a point distinctly nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"That 'ere bull aer fair bothered," observed Hank, as Beaver Jack again +buried the muzzle of his trumpet. "He aer been retreating all this +while, and now it seems to me as ef he'd made up his mind that things +was square, and had come towards us at a gallop. Ef he charges, don't +wait too long. Give him a shot, and then ram in a cartridge." +</P> + +<P> +It was perhaps some ten minutes later that the undergrowth clambering +about the stems of a thick clump of evergreen pines three hundred yards +from the hunters was suddenly rent asunder, and there emerged into the +open two gigantic animals, the moose bull ahead and his consort behind +him. As for the former, Joe could even at that distance see that his +short mane was bristling, while his head was thrown upward, his antlers +being carried high in the air, while one fore leg was poised, as if he +were in the very act of galloping forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Hah!" Joe heard Hank grunt. "That aer the meaning of the mystery. +That 'ere bull has gone on retreating till he felt as ef he were bound +to go no farther, as ef, in fact, he'd be a coward ef he didn't turn +and face the danger. You kin look out for trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Click! went the safety catch of Joe's rifle. He swung it into position +and, taking careful aim, pulled the trigger. Almost at once there came +a snorting grunt from the moose bull. The beast threw his fore legs +into the air and stood there poised for the instant. A second later he +had launched himself against the little group of hunters, and came +charging towards them at a speed which was terrific. +</P> + +<P> +"Agin!" cried Hank, his eyes gleaming, while his fingers closed round +his own weapon. Up went our hero's gun again, and once more his eye +ranged along the sights. But he never pulled the trigger, for, of a +sudden, there came a loud report from behind him, while something +struck the snow three yards in rear and ricochetting from the surface +went humming and screaming over his head. Then came a second shot, +falling almost on the self-same spot, while the powdered snow driven +upward by the bullet swept against his face in a thick cloud which +almost blinded him. Sweeping the crystals away with one hand, he +stared across the open, while Hank's sharp tones roused him from the +form of stupor into which he had fallen. +</P> + +<P> +"Git loaded," he commanded shortly, "and soon as you've given 'em a +shot, run back where that 'ere moose has bolted. Reckon there's a pack +of half-breeds after us." +</P> + +<P> +The sharp snap of his weapon was heard instantly, and was followed by a +shot from Beaver Jack's rifle. Then Joe, wrestling with the excitement +into which this sudden interference had thrown him, levelled his own +weapon at the foremost of two dog sleighs dashing across the open +towards them, and steadily pulled the trigger. +</P> + +<P> +"On snowshoes," cried Hank sharply. "Now, Beaver Jack, you kin take +post behind us. You're the best when it comes to huntin', but when +there's a ruction same as this is, guess Hank ain't in need of no +coaching. Joe, you come second. Ef they gets much closer, you've to +keep a tree between you and them most of the time, and ef they looks +like heading us, why, in course we shall have to look lively to find a +suitable place to hold, and must get to and fight 'em." +</P> + +<P> +He turned without further warning, and with his rifle trailed in one +hand dashed across the snow towards the thick clump of evergreens from +which the bull moose had so lately put in an appearance. As for the +beast and his consort, both had turned at the sound of that far-off +shot and had dashed away at a pace which took them out of sight within +a minute. It was but a few seconds later when the same evergreens +closed about the figures of our hero and his comrades. +</P> + +<P> +"We've got to search for thick forest all the while," called Hank +softly over his shoulder. "Then those dog sleighs won't be able to +make much pace, and so won't easily come up to us. Gee, this aer a do! +I reckoned all the while as there was something queer happenin', +something that that bull moose kinder scented and yet warn't sure of. +This aer a fair business." +</P> + +<P> +The sudden change in the fortunes of the little party was indeed +extraordinary and inexplicable. Had either of the three been asked the +question that morning, they would have declared that to the best of +their belief there was not another living human being within a radius +of perhaps a hundred miles. Yet see what had happened. Ever since an +early hour that morning two sleighs, drawn by dogs, had been following +their tracks up to the hills and along the elevated ground they had +taken. Figures wrapped in skin garments much the same as Beaver Jack +wore had trudged beside the sleighs, whirling their whips now and again +above the heads of the teams they were driving. Then, coming to that +open space across which the chase had taken our hero and his friends, +these strangers had leaped on to their sleighs and had come across the +frozen surface at a rattling pace that brought them within long rifle +shot of the hunters as Joe was in the very act of achieving a triumph. +When the latter turned, having narrowly escaped two bullets, it was to +perceive the two sleighs being driven rapidly forward, one some ten +feet in advance of the other. Instantly his eyes were attracted to the +former; for in front sat a huddled figure, above whose head a +long-lashed whip swirled and cracked, while behind there stood a burly +man balancing himself wonderfully, and with rifle at his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Who could he be? What was the cause of this sudden and unprovoked +attack? From whence had come these men who had sprung upon the scene +so unexpectedly? No wonder that Hank was troubled. Beaver Jack's +seamed and heavily-lined face displayed not the smallest surprise or +vexation; but Joe's features were a study. There was anger on his +face; his lips were firmly pressed together. His bull-dog chin was, if +anything, a little squarer than usual. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" he cried. "Well, I'm jiggered." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XV +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Pursued by Unknown Enemies +</P> + +<P> +For the better part of an hour Hank led his two comrades across the +snow-clad side of the hill, guiding them between the trees of the patch +of forest land which they had now entered, and keeping always to the +west. Then, without show of hesitation, he plunged into a wide-open +strip across which could be traced, even at a distance, the tracks left +by the two moose they had so recently accosted. Nor did he slacken his +pace till a second belt of forest land appeared, and the trio had once +more dived into cover. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin sit down and rest awhile and get yer breath," he said shortly. +"Me and Beaver Jack'll watch to see what's happenin' to them varmint. +Gee! I'd give a pile of dollars to know who they are and for why +they've taken it into their ugly heads to follow and attack us. You +ain't got no notion, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +The Indian, who had already thrown himself down beneath an evergreen +with his face turned in the direction in which they had been coming, +merely grunted. It seemed almost as if he considered an answer +superfluous. Then, as Hank repeated his question somewhat +peremptorily, the Redskin swung over on to his right side and looked +back at the hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"Not sure," he said. "Bad men, anyway; half-breeds, p'raps. But want +to kill us; maybe they think there is money." +</P> + +<P> +"Then they're jest makin' an almighty error," grinned Hank, who seemed +to be amused at the idea, and who, in any case, desperate though the +position might be, seemed in no way put out or bereft of his usual +cheeriness and assurance. "They're jest making a tarnation error ef +money's what they're after, for Joe and I ain't got much more than the +price of a tin of 'bacca between us. We've sunk it in land, Jack, land +as thieves like them can't grab. But half-breeds they are, I'd guess; +though why they should follow us beats me hollow. P'raps they're +discharged servants of the Hudson Bay Company, and, happenin' to fall +across our tracks, thought to knock us over the heads and clear all +that we've got. There's two sides to that sort of business. I ain't +never allowed people to give me knocks without rousin' trouble, and +guess them 'ere varmint is in fer a little now. Joe, ha' you got any +sort o' notion who they could be?" +</P> + +<P> +Was it likely that our hero could have even an idea? After all, his +experience of Canada was decidedly limited. It is true that the months +he had spent with Peter Strike had taught him a great deal, while his +stay in the lumber camp, and the unending yarns of the men when +gathered of an evening round the fire, had furnished him with many a +little incident telling of the life of the settlers and also of old +colonists. Indeed, there were men there who had passed to the north as +far as Hudson Bay, and who, when pressed, had spoken of the long, dark +winters, of the sparse population, of the half-breeds to be found at +and about the forts erected by the all-dominating Hudson Bay Company. +But search his memory as he might, there was nothing in those yarns to +give him an inkling as to who these marauders could be; in fact, he had +gathered that life was peculiarly secure even in the out-of-the-way +parts of the Dominion. Why, therefore, should he and his two comrades +have been so suddenly and unexpectedly attacked? +</P> + +<P> +"Beats me, Hank," he exclaimed, shaking his head. "I got wondering +once whether it could be Hurley, who somehow got to learn that you and +I were off for a prospecting tour. But is it likely?" +</P> + +<P> +The little hunter stuffed the bowl of his thin pipe with one firm +finger tip, while he stared away across the open along the tracks which +he and his comrades had made. It was clear that his eyes were hardly +observing his surroundings. He was thinking deeply, and his coon-skin +cap, though it was pulled low down on to his forehead, failed to hide +the deep wrinkles which had suddenly appeared, and which even ran down +over his brows to the corners of the eyes. He struck a match—for that +was one of the luxuries of civilization which he clung to in the +backwoods, though Beaver Jack was above such trivial help—and slowly +lit the weed. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought o' that," he said at last; "but it ain't likely. +You've got to bear in mind that Hurley ha got a rope round his neck +every day of the week and every hour of his life. He aer likely to be +informed against every time he sets his ugly nose near the settlements; +and sense you may say as he's always in danger of being taken, it +stands to reason that he ain't going to risk his neck jest for the sake +of gettin' quits with two of the chaps who helped to chase him. No, it +ain't reasonable. Seems to me as it aer likely that what Beaver Jack +says aer right. Them 'ere skunks is half-breeds out ter rob. They've +perhaps been huntin'. P'raps they belong to some station north of +this, and has been sent along to get stores or to take a message, +though as a general rule there ain't much of that sorter work done in +the winter. Anyways, they dropped on our trace and, seein' as there +was three of us, made up their minds to wipe us out. But ef they ain't +mighty careful they'll come up agin bad trouble afore they're much +older." +</P> + +<P> +That was the utmost that one could say of this mystery. After all, +what difference did it make who these strangers might be? It could not +help Joe and his friends to be sure of their names, not in the +slightest. But still Joe puzzled. Could it be Hurley? +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" he told himself. "Hank must be right. The man would never +risk his neck just on the offchance of killing a couple of the men who +helped to arrest him. All the same, I wish he'd never escaped, and in +any case, I am awfully sorry about that envelope he took from me. I've +bothered about it a whole heap; for though I feel sure that the +contents were of no actual monetary value, yet there was some message +of great importance which Father wished me to have once I had made some +sort of a place in the world. What could it have been?" +</P> + +<P> +What, indeed? Of what use to worry, seeing that Hurley had relieved +our hero of the missive, and then, when that rascal had been captured, +though his dollar bills were forthcoming, there was no trace of the +letter? It was gone. Perhaps even Hurley was already captured, while +the men following at that moment, and still out of sight, had +undoubtedly no connection with the outlaw who had so nearly ended Joe's +attempts at settling in this vast dominion. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess they've been bothered by the trees, and has had to climb out of +the sledges and walk quiet," chuckled Hank, when a quarter of an hour +had passed without a sight of the enemy. "Now see here, mates, our +game aer as clear as daylight. With this here snow all around we can't +hope to smother our tracks and get clear off. Ef it war springtime, or +summer, a babe could do it. There's fifty ways more or less. We could +climb a tree, sneak along from branch to branch in a wood same as this +and then drop into a river, takin' care to land somewhere whar there +was rock. In course, ef it snowed jest now that'd help us. But then +it ain't goin' to snow. There's nary a cloud in the sky, so it simply +comes to holding them off as long as we're able, and this here aer jest +the spot to work it. Guess me and Joe'll have a bite while Jack +watches. When we've done, he can have a turn." +</P> + +<P> +It was an excellent proposal on the hunter's part, and Joe seized upon +the opportunity, for the brisk air and the excitement of the day had +given him a keen appetite, and our hero had become somewhat notorious +for that since he came to this glorious country. He and Hank sat down, +therefore, and, pulling some of their ready-cooked food from their pack +bags, made a hearty meal. Then Beaver Jack was relieved, while Joe +took his place. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest keep yer eyes skinned, and follow every inch of the line of the +wood 'way across the open," said Hank. "I'm goin' to take a look round +on either hand and in front. It wouldn't do to sit tight here waitin' +and waitin', and have them skunks round us up and come along towards us +from the opposite direction. You kin never say what sort o' tricks a +half-breed will be up to, so jest look lively." +</P> + +<P> +He went off through the trees for all the world as if he were a ghost, +his snowshoes making not so much as a sound. Joe lay flat on his face +in the snow, taking the same position that Beaver Jack had selected. +Placing his rifle a little to one side and somewhat in front, he stared +steadily across the open, watching the edge of the wood from which they +had themselves lately emerged, and then gazing to right and to left. +But not yet could he detect the presence of the enemy, and since they +were not there, he fell again to wondering who they were, from whence +they had come, and for what purpose they had attacked a party of +hunters who could by no possibility have done them harm, and who, in +any case, could not be the possessors of great wealth. As to his own +feelings on the question of personal danger, he had not so much as a +qualm. Perhaps, if he had been warned that an attack was to be made, +he would have been thrown into that curious condition which is neither +caused by fear nor by anxiety, but merely by that natural agitation of +spirit which comes to the average man when danger threatens. But here +Joe had been, as it were, suddenly pitchforked into the midst of +turmoil. At one moment he had been facing a charging moose, a +situation requiring nerve, and the next he had found himself the object +of bullets sent by an enemy from behind. Ah, there they were! The +irregular line of the forest was of a sudden broken; Joe had been +gazing in that direction but a second earlier and had seen nothing. +Now, when his eyes swung once more to that quarter, two sleighs stood +out prominently, their dog teams sprawling out ahead of them. The dark +figures of five men moved about the sleighs, and it was clear from +their movements that they had been marching through the forest, and +were now about to mount their vehicles again. +</P> + +<P> +"Slipping off their snowshoes and getting ready for a burst of speed +across the open," said Joe to himself. "That'll be the time to read +'em a lesson, and seems to me they deserve one." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his head for a moment and beckoned to Beaver Jack; then, +picking up his rifle, he laid the sights on one of the sledges and +waited for a forward move on the part of the enemy. Nor could it be +said that our hero had the smallest doubt as to what his action should +be, or the slightest compunction at the thought of firing on these +strangers. +</P> + +<P> +"It's they or us," he told himself, "and they have a bigger party. Ah! +what's that? More of them!" +</P> + +<P> +No wonder he gave vent to a cry of amazement, for a hurried inspection +of the party aboard the pursuing sleighs had given him the impression +at the beginning of this strange encounter that there were only four or +more in the party. Now he knew that the sleighs bore five. But just +as that number had embarked, he was thunderstruck to see four more dark +figures issue from the irregular line of the forest and move out on to +the open snow. At the same instant there was a slight noise beside +him, so, turning his head, he found Hank had returned and had taken up +a position. He lay full length, his rifle to his hand, his eyes glued +on the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"The tarnation skunks!" Joe heard him growl. "I ain't surprised to see +more of 'em. That jest explains why they've been so slow in following. +The sleigh party went ahead, hoping to drive right up to us and finish +the business. T'others followed afoot, and when the fust lot was +disappointed, why, they halted for a while so as they could all come +along together. This aer mighty awkward. Yer see, ef they breaks up +into several lots, we can't hope to keep 'em back. There's enough +hollows and trees out there in the open to give 'em shelter, and in +course of time they're bound to close in on us. This aer a tarnation +fix." +</P> + +<P> +There was little doubt, in fact, that Joe and his comrades were face to +face with a dangerous dilemma. For, as Hank was not slow to point out, +if merely the two sleigh parties attempted a dash across the open, he +and Joe and Jack might very well hope to pick some of the enemy off, +and even to force them to retreat; but with four others added, and they +on snowshoes, it would be next door to impossible to hold them at a +distance. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer come to a council," said Hank, scratching his head. "To me it +seems likely enough that them cusses aboard the sleighs'll try a dash. +Wall, that won't help 'em overmuch, for in a jiffy we'll teach 'em +something worth learnin'. What bothers me is to say how we should work +ef they makes across, taking advantage of every bit of cover. Where +are we to go? We can't keep runnin' away for ever. 'Sides, I ain't so +sure as I'm ready to show my heels to skunks same as these." +</P> + +<P> +There was a resentful, threatening note in his words, and, glancing at +the little hunter, Joe saw that his face was flushed, while his little +eyes were flashing dangerously. After all, in spite of his somewhat +diminutive proportions, there was quite a lot of the bull dog about +Hank. Those who knew the hunter knew him to be a cunning and +courageous tracker, a man to be depended on, a friend worth having, an +enemy more than difficult to make—for Hank hated quarrels, and was for +ever ready to forgive and forget—and yet an enemy to be duly feared +and placated. Those who had been so unfortunate never to have had the +opportunity of meeting this remarkable little man, save on one +occasion, were none the less impressed. Hank's was a personality that +bred confidence. Strength of character, honesty of purpose, bull-dog +determination were written plainly on his face, even while it was +wreathed with the most cordial smiles. Joe had felt the very same +about his friend. Hank had impressed him from the first. Sometimes he +imagined that long acquaintance had disclosed all the hunter's points, +good and bad, to him. But even now he had something to learn. He had +never seen his friend in a similar position to this; he had never known +him when he was the object of an unprovoked attack, and when the odds +were opposed to him. But seeing his firm face now, the strong +determination on every feature, his own chin took on something of the +same aspect. Looking at the two as they lay side by side, one would +have said at once that while the elder man could be relied on whatever +the position, his youthful comrade was not one whit behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall?" came from Hank dryly, while the lock of his rifle clicked. +"Ain't you goin' to speak?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe looked sharply across at him. "Eh?" he asked. "I thought you were +speaking to Beaver Jack and asking his opinion." +</P> + +<P> +"And mighty nice of you, lad," came the answer. "I like to see a young +chap as keeps his mouth shut till his elders has spoken. But there +ain't too much time before us, and 'sides, I know that Jack would ha +spoken already ef he had anything to say. What's your idea? You've +reckoned the position. You ain't ready to go on runnin' away from a +set o' skunks same as them, aer you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No!" came emphatically from our hero. "Partly because I couldn't. +I'd soon be done, for this snowshoeing is heavy work to one who is not +hardened. Then I don't see why I should. Who are they that we should +run from them? Let 'em prove that they are stronger." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! You'll do!" cried Hank. "That's the sort of spirit. Wall, now, +you've some sort of idea?" +</P> + +<P> +"None." Joe was bound to confess it. "But," he went on, "it seems to +me that we ought to look out for some place which we can hold. Of +course it could only be for a short while, as we have no large supply +of food; but it would bring this business to a head. Perhaps these +fellows would make an attack and give us a chance of beating them. If +not, why—well something might turn up to help, and in any case it +would be better than this constant running." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'm with you," cried Hank; "only jest now there's not so much as +the sight of a place where we could hold 'em, and till one turns up, +why, in course, it's run we must. But we'll keep a bright lookout. +See here, and jest you listen, Beaver Jack. We'll give them fellers a +dusting ef they try to cross, and then we'll trail arms and slink off +through the forest. Something'll turn up soon to help us." +</P> + +<P> +It was perhaps two minutes later that there was a general move on the +part of the enemy. The leading man aboard each sleigh was seen to +stand, gripping the reins in one hand while he swung a short-handled +whip with the other, one which boasted of an enormously long and heavy +lash that even a moderately skilful operator could cause to crack with +the sound of a rifle report. +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, and more'n that," Hank had observed on one occasion. "I've known +men who could swing a whip so as to cut in two anything that was +anywheres within reach. One half-breed from 'way up north could stand +on his head even and cut slick through a chunk of bread, while there +ain't one of them that's used to the whip and has dogs to drive that +couldn't set a pal up afore him with a cigarette in his mouth and jest +flick the cigarette away as easy and as sartin as winkin'. Then, too, +the cut of a heavy lash same as they use is that keen, they say some of +'em could nearly divide a dog with it, ay, cut him in two, while they'd +easy whip a chunk out o' the poor beasts. Cruel! In course them whips +is cruel, and so's the men. But then you ain't dealing with ordinary +dogs; them critters is fierce, and ef they was hungry ain't above +tearing a human to pieces." +</P> + +<P> +But this was not the moment for discussing the pros and cons of dog +whips, nor the prowess of the men who wield them; for the enemy were on +the move. It seemed almost as if they had made up their minds to +ignore all thoughts of danger; or perhaps they imagined that Hank had +led his two comrades steadily forward, and was not lying beneath the +trees beyond the open space waiting with loaded rifles for them. In +any case, the drivers sent their whips cracking over their teams, while +the dogs responded by leaping into their harness and speeding away from +the irregular line of the forest. At the same moment the four men on +foot, who were shod with snowshoes, shot out from the cover and, +dividing till a wide interval separated each man, came speeding across +the snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Beaver Jack takes 'em to right," said Hank steadily, not a waver in +his voice. "I take the critters in the centre; Joe pays partic'lar +attention to the varmint on the left. Fire as you get 'em in line with +your sights." +</P> + +<P> +A spurt of flame issued from his own muzzle a second or so later, Joe +peering out across the snow to see what effect the bullet had; and once +more he was witness of the effect of a missile striking a glancing blow +on the snowfield. A cloud of white particles suddenly leaped up in +front of the foremost sleigh, hiding the men aboard it, while a shout +came from the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Missed 'em by a pip," observed Hank, ramming in a fresh cartridge. +"You, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +Our hero lined his sights on the second sleigh, followed the moving +object for a moment, then pressed his trigger; and all the while as he +aimed he was wondering at his own coolness. He might indeed have been +firing at inanimate objects. The idea that he was aiming at living men +hardly seemed to trouble him in the slightest, while if he had any +qualms at the thought that his bullet might slay a fellow being, he +never showed them. +</P> + +<P> +"It's they or us," he repeated for the tenth time at least. "They've +made an unprovoked attack, and must put up with the consequences." +</P> + +<P> +Bang! His own weapon spat forth a bullet, while a cloud of white smoke +belched from the muzzle, to die away at once. All eyes went toward the +sleigh he had aimed at, and once again the tell-tale spray of snow +showed exactly where the missile had landed, and precisely by how much +it had missed the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"Not bad shootin'," said Hank. "Them sleighs is moving fast, and you +want to give 'em at least a yard ahead when you're aiming. Beaver +Jack, jest you see what you're made of." +</P> + +<P> +There came a grunt from the Redskin. Joe watched the seamed and lined +and strangely-impassive face of the Indian go down towards the butt of +his rifle. He saw the hooked nose settle itself against the wood of +the stock, while one of the keen eyes seemed to become rather more +prominent. There came a sharp report, and almost at once an answering +scream from the distance. +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you!" cried Hank. "Guess you got the man aboard the leading +sleigh, and in falling backward he aer pulled the team in. Jest sit +tight while I give 'em another, and you follow quick with your bullet, +Joe lad." +</P> + +<P> +In rapid succession the two shots were fired, and it seemed more than +probable that they had hit their mark, for the men aboard the leading +sleigh were thrown in great confusion. One was seen to stand and grip +at the reins which his wounded comrade had allowed to fall. Then the +team of dogs was headed round, the whip cracked, and in a trice the +sleigh was being steered for the forest. Meanwhile a shot from Beaver +Jack had caused one of the men gliding across the snow afoot to dodge +suddenly to one side, and that, with the evidence the enemy now had +that Hank and his friends had them under their rifles, sent the +remainder of the band retracing their steps at a pace which was +furious. Shouts escaped from them as they raced for cover, and in +little more than a minute all had disappeared from view. +</P> + +<P> +"That aer lesson number one," said Hank grimly, as he slid a fresh +cartridge into position. "Ef them 'ere critters thought they was going +to slit our throats without our kicking up a rumpus, why, they've found +out the error. It'll make 'em a trifle more cautious now that one of +'em's gone under, and they kin see that we are able to shoot; but it +won't turn 'em, I'm thinkin'. A half-breed ain't easily frightened, +and ef it's gain they are after, why, this'll make 'em all the keener." +</P> + +<P> +"What will they do, then?" asked Joe, who still lay on his face, his +eyes glued on the distant forest. "It seems to me that if we can only +stay here and hold them, they cannot get nearer. Of course, when night +comes we shall be unable to see them, and nothing will prevent their +getting closer." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess that aer solid truth," agreed Hank. "But there's more besides. +I've been takin' a good look round, and I've kinder put myself in the +place of them critters. Wall, now, it aer clear that we can't climb +over the ridge to our left. It rises quickly, and the snow lies in +deep drifts; so we've got to go dead straight ahead or cut away down to +the valley we left this morning. That being so, ef they believe we +mean to lie here and hold 'em from crossing the open, they'll leave a +man just to show himself every now and then, while the rest of the +party strikes downhill and gets abreast of us. Then they'll come +climbing up, and ef we stays they'll have us hard up agin the hill +before we know what's happened. Leastwise, that's what I should do ef +I was their leader." +</P> + +<P> +"So you advise that we move on at once?" asked Joe, rising to his feet. +"Perhaps farther along we shall come upon some place which would offer +good shelter, some sort of natural fort in which we could take cover. +I've an idea that——" +</P> + +<P> +He came to a sudden stop and pointed out across the snow-covered ground +before them. +</P> + +<P> +"One of them critters," growled Hank. "Seems as ef I might be right. +He's showing clear, and—yes, there ain't a doubt about it. He's got +one arm hung in a sling." +</P> + +<P> +There came an instant response from Beaver Jack, a deep-toned grunt. +His keen eyes had evidently taken in all that was passing. "Same man +as sit on the sleigh and tumble backwards," he grunted. "Not badly +hurt. Bullet make hole through the arm, and that nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"Only it jest makes him useless for the moment. See here," said Hank, +"I'll move into the open and give him a shot. Likely as not he'll +signal to his comrades." +</P> + +<P> +On second thoughts the little hunter refrained from using his rifle. +"I might hit him," he said, "and that ain't what I want. I'll jest let +him get a squint at me, so as to make him feel sartin we're remaining +here; then I'll hop back till he shows agin. Ah! Ain't that given him +pleasure? He's gone into cover, but ef you look close you kin see him +just inside the line o' trees wavin'. Gee! Don't they take us fer +soft 'uns? As ef a baby wouldn't guess what was up." +</P> + +<P> +There was no doubt now that the enemy, whoever they might be, had taken +the course which Hank guessed at. Their design was clear and apparent, +for the wounded man made repeated appearances during the next ten +minutes, diving into the trees again on each occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"You was sayin' that you had an idea," said Hank at length, stretching +himself beside our hero. "What aer that idea?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was thinking of the sort of place that would suit us," began Joe. +"It occurred to me that there must be many little hollows which might +serve our purpose, provided that they could not be overlooked; for it +wouldn't do for these beggars to climb higher and pitch their bullets +down upon us." +</P> + +<P> +"That aer sense," agreed Hank. "Wall?" +</P> + +<P> +"But——" +</P> + +<P> +"There aer always a but," asserted the little hunter. "It aer there +that gumption always comes in. Nothing goes right and straight in this +world unless you help it. A man has to use his wits and his strength +most always. What aer this but?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just this," said Joe. "What's the use of a fort—a natural fort I'm +meaning, though the same thing applies of course to one built by human +hands—what's the use of such a place if you can't live in it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Hank pushed back his coon-skin cap and scratched his head. This +argument was getting somewhat beyond him. He was a cute and cunning +little fellow, stuffed full of worldly experience and of forest lore, +but subtle argument was beyond him. "See here, Joe," he cried, +somewhat testily; "plain words are wanted jest now. What's the meaning +of this here fort that you've mentioned? Are you propounding a sorter +puzzle?" +</P> + +<P> +That set Joe grinning for the moment; but almost at once he became +serious. "I'm in dead earnest, Hank," he said. "But this is what I'm +driving at. We've no grub to speak of." +</P> + +<P> +"Precious little." +</P> + +<P> +"And no pots nor pans." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm a-getting through with the argiment," declared the hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"And it's likely to be mighty cold when we're cooped up in some hollow +and unable to move about as we are now doing. In fact, blankets are +wanted." +</P> + +<P> +"All that aer sense," said Hank, jamming his hat back into place and +staring closely at our hero. "Wall?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my idea is this. Since we can't climb away to the left, as the +ground rises so steeply, and as we can make the pace hot if we happen +to be going downhill, why not strike in that direction at once, sweep +to the right, and make back for our camp? That'll give us food and +pots and pans and blankets. We'll be better able then to look about us +for some sort of place that will give us cover. Tell you straight, +Hank, I'm getting more worried at the thought that the supper'll be +small to-night than I am at the knowledge that those rascals are after +us." +</P> + +<P> +Hank grinned widely; his queer little lips, usually pursed close +together, parted in a capacious smile which he only indulged in on +occasion. A deep-throated grunt came from him, and almost at once his +rifle leapt across his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"That aer solid sense," he cried at length. "Guess we'll make slick +back to our camp, and then, when we've collected our traps and had a +feed, why, we kin give some sort of attention to this other business. +I'll step out agin so as to allow the critter yonder to see me. Then +we'll face downhill, wait till the enemy ha' crossed in front, and go +away over their tracks straight back to the spot where our traps are +lying." +</P> + +<P> +It was not by any means certain, of course, that this plan of procedure +would improve their lot and aid them in escaping from the half-breeds +who had so unwarrantably attacked them; but at least, if they were +successful in reaching their camp, it would provide them with a hearty +meal, and that was something. +</P> + +<P> +"A full stummick makes a man look differently at troubles," observed +Hank, as he slipped on his snowshoes. "Difficulties seem to slide away +as soon as you've a good supper tucked behind your waistcoat. Joe, +we'll reach the camp even ef there's a hundred critters between us and +the place. Jest sling yer rifle, and don't forget, ef you hear a sound +or see one of the varmint, jest drop as ef you was dead. Silence and +cunning will help us heaps more'n bullets." +</P> + +<P> +With rifles slung, and Hank in advance, the trio once more set +themselves in motion. The little hunter went straight on into the wood +till he was sure that none outside could see them, then he turned his +face downhill, and, setting an easy pace, led his comrades towards the +valley. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XVI +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Choosing a Fortress +</P> + +<P> +Barely ten minutes had passed from the moment when Hank led the way +downhill, from the spot where he and his comrades had taken up their +position and had repulsed the enemy, till the little hunter suddenly +lifted an arm, bringing the party to an abrupt halt. Then he signalled +to Beaver Jack, and with the lean, lanky figure of the Redskin beside +him, stood listening intently. A second later all three were lying +flat on their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"You kin hear folks moving somewhars about," whispered the little +hunter in Joe's ear, "but where they aer is more'n I kin say at the +moment. Yer see, the snow makes things mighty difficult, while the +tree trunks break up every sound and scatter it in all directions. But +them critters is moving near. Seems likely they ha' halted for a +while." +</P> + +<P> +Tense silence fell upon the three, while each one huddled his body +deeper into the snow, edging behind the largest tree and doing his +utmost to make himself invisible. Hank, indeed, burrowed beneath the +snow, and extracting huge handfuls of the white crystals, tossed them +over his body. +</P> + +<P> +"In course no half-breed and no Injun would pass us within a hundred +yards and not see us," he said grimly. "But every little helps in +cases like this. S—s—sh! Didn't I hear someone callin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Down there." Joe pointed eagerly downhill, hardly even whispering the +words. And then, quite plainly to the ears of every one of the party, +there came the note of a human voice, subdued and eager. Rising in +cadence for the instant, it fell immediately and then died away +altogether. Afterwards not a sound disturbed the ghostly silence of +the patch of forest through which they were passing; that is, not a +sound audible to our hero. Hank's staring eyes and the eager +expression on the hawk-like face of the Redskin told their own story. +They heard something. To them the presence of the enemy was evident. +Ah! Joe buried his head still deeper, for away in the distance a +figure came of a sudden into view sliding silently between the tree +trunks. A second followed, muffled to the eyes; a third, a fourth, +till eight in all were visible. Perhaps two hundred yards separated +them from Joe and his comrades. Perhaps they were even closer. In any +case, their proximity was such that the little party in hiding was in +the utmost danger. One point, however, was in their favour. The enemy +were facing the west, and were cutting across the line of flight which +our hero had suggested. A minute passed, then two. It began to look +as if the danger would be gone in a few moments. Then, of a sudden, +that low-pitched, eager voice was heard again, and, raising his head +ever so slightly, Joe saw that the enemy had halted and were now +bunched together. +</P> + +<P> +"Talking it over," he told himself, hearing voices. "They have an idea +that they have come far enough west, and that now they had better cut +uphill again, having got well behind us. Wish they had gone on another +hundred yards or so, then there wouldn't have been any danger." +</P> + +<P> +"The critters!" he heard Hank growl. "Ef they ain't turning uphill at +this instant!" +</P> + +<P> +That indeed seemed to be the intention of the enemy; for, breaking from +the circle into which they had collected, they went off again in single +file, one burly individual leading. As for the features of these +unfriendly strangers, what they were like and of exactly what +nationality, neither Joe nor Hank nor Beaver Jack had the smallest +inkling; for the enemy one and all were thickly clad in furs, muffled +to their eyes, and at that distance seemed to be merely grotesque +bundles of clothing. This, however, was certain—they were adepts at +the art of snowshoeing. Not one but was accustomed to the forest, for +beyond a voice or two not another sound had come from them. Facing the +hillside, they curled off in that direction and slowly moved upward. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a toss up," Hank whispered, under his breath. "Yer see, now +that they've turned they gets a broadside view of where we're lying +instead of a head-on view. See here, Joe, ef they spots us, jest get +in behind a tree and pepper 'em; if they don't, be ready to move off +the instant we're able. Seems to me as ef I've an idea that'll bother +them badly." +</P> + +<P> +The ten minutes which followed were trying, for once again the enemy +halted, gathering together to discuss the situation. It appeared as if +they were a little uncertain of their position, and at one moment they +appeared to be on the point of proceeding in the direction which they +were taking when first Joe and his friends saw them. But at last they +went on again and slowly passed out of hearing. +</P> + +<P> +"That war a near go," whispered Hank, with a sigh of relief, as he rose +to an erect position. "Now fer that idea of mine. Yer see, we've got +to bother 'em badly, fer it won't be long afore they comes upon the +spot where we were lying. In course there'll be a hullabaloo at once, +and back they'll come after us. Ef they're sure of the line we've +taken they'll cut clear across for their sleighs, and then there won't +be a dog's chance for us. Joe, look lively jest now, and see as you do +as you see me and Beaver Jack doing." +</P> + +<P> +He faced downhill without another word, while the Redskin fell in +behind him. Indeed, the silent man seemed to have already guessed at +Hank's intentions, or was it that the cunning learned by all hunters is +of such a class that their minds move always on parallel lines, and +difficulties are met in almost similar fashion? Whatever the reason, +Beaver Jack seemed to have guessed intuitively what Hank's plan was to +be, and fell in behind him without uttering a syllable. Then came Joe, +watching closely, wondering what new tricks he would see put into +execution. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer plain," began Hank, when at length he had reached the track +along which the enemy had so recently passed, "it aer clear as daylight +that when them critters finds that we have moved, they will come +dashing downhill as ef there was demons behind 'em. They'll come along +in our tracks, and ef we was to cross their own here and cut a line of +our own, why, in course there wouldn't be any need for 'em to wait to +look about for the direction. So here we plays an old Injun game that +ain't so often practised in these days—now!" +</P> + +<P> +He swung round, and moving a few paces beside the track which the +half-breeds had followed, joined it at an acute angle, making it appear +as if he and his comrades were going in the same direction. Then the +wily little hunter stepped out of his snowshoes and, reversing his own +direction, thrust his warmly-moccasined feet into them in the reverse +order. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer catch the idea?" he grinned. "Now I walks along the way they +came, but to look at the marks I'll leave you'd think I was jest going +along with them. It aer said that a bear'll walk backward to his +winter lair so as to deceive his enemies. That's what we're doing." +</P> + +<P> +With shoes reversed, the little fellow set off at once, halting for a +few seconds, once he had passed his comrades, so as to enable each in +turn to step on to the track and face about. Then the three proceeded, +the turning of their shoes making no great difference to their +movement. As to the track they left, it was inextricably mixed up with +the marks made by the enemy, and seeing that their snowshoes were +reversed, it appeared that they were following the same direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as a Redskin nor a half-breed wouldn't spot the thing right off," +whispered Hank, "that is, ef it war a fresh track we was making; for it +aer natural for a man to put his heel down heavily, even when carrying +a snowshoe, and a practised tracker, same as these half-breeds, would +see that the front part of our shoes is pressed into the snow. But +here there's the marks of eight pairs of shoes already, and our +three'll mix up nicely with 'em. Now, boys, let's git along slick; +every second'll be of importance." +</P> + +<P> +It was in silence after that that they thrust their way through the +forest, and seeing that the direction the enemy had taken took the +little party downhill, their pace was extremely rapid. Perhaps half an +hour later Hank again came to a halt, pointing before him. +</P> + +<P> +"Here we takes our own line," he said. "I guess those critters cut +downhill amongst the trees yonder till they had got below a fold in the +ground which would hide them. Then they swung straight across for our +side, knowing that we couldn't see 'em. Wall, we'll do the same; we'll +strike straight out into the open and, cutting away from their track, +dive down the hill into the valley. After that we'll make a bee-line +for the camp, and there make ready for the ruction that's bound to +follow. Seems to me, Joe, as ef I'd already got an idea of a spot that +would give us cover." +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! Listen!" suddenly exclaimed our hero, raising one hand and +standing in the position of keen attention. "I heard sounds from +behind us. I feel sure that——" +</P> + +<P> +"Yer ain't got no need to tell us what it aer," said Hank curtly, in +the abrupt way he had when something specially stirred him. "Them +critters has got to the point where they hoped to spring upon us and +wipe us out, and they aer fair bustin' with rage to find that we've +given 'em the slip. They'll be tumblin' downhill now as fast as their +legs will bring 'em, and ef it warn't that we've put up a fine start +and have left something behind to worry 'em a little, they'd be on our +heels afore we could look round. Now, Beaver Jack, guess we've a long +chase afore us; you kin take the lead and strike slick for the camp. +I'll go behind and keep a weather eye open for them critters." +</P> + +<P> +There was perfect order and coolness amongst the little party, though a +glance at any one of the faces showed that all appreciated the danger +of their position. No one, indeed, could have failed to gather that +discovery of their escape would bring the whole pack of half-breeds +chasing after them; the exchange of shots between the two parties, and +the fact that the enemy had been the first to open fire proved, if +proof were wanted, that a closer approach on their part would result in +more shots, and in the slaying of Joe and his friends, if that were +possible. +</P> + +<P> +"But why? What is the attack made for?" Joe found himself saying under +his breath again and again. "We don't look to be rich, I'm sure. +We're just ordinary trappers or prospectors, and from what I have +gathered such people don't carry much in the way of money with them. +The rich prospectors, also, don't dream of setting out into the +backwoods during the winter. They choose the spring and summer for two +reasons, I guess. One, because then they can see the land, for there +isn't any snow, and so can search for the veins of metal which attract +them; and secondly, because they haven't severe weather to face. It +beats me hollow; one would have thought that these men had been set +upon us for some other purpose than that of robbery." +</P> + +<P> +It was one of those questions, in fact, which would have taken a more +worldly-wise fellow than Joe to answer; indeed, had he but known the +true reason of this unlooked-for and undeserved attack, he would have +been astounded. For the band then shrieking and shouting behind them, +and at that moment dashing downhill on their snowshoes, had set out to +search for our hero and his friends. They had hunted high and low for +the trace of two prospectors, for the snowshoe marks left by Joe and +Hank, and had fallen upon those marks prior to their joining hands with +Beaver Jack. But the accession of one to the number of the little +party made not the smallest difference. Why should it? There were +nine in this gang, and only three in the other. +</P> + +<P> +But Joe had other things to do than to worry his head as to reasons. +After all, what did it matter who this enemy was? What difference +could knowing make to our hero and his friends? For enemies are much +the same all the world through. Once it is demonstrated that they aim +at the slaying of those they follow, all come under the same heading. +All are dangerous, and it behoves those who have to defend their lives +to take the utmost precautions. +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack therefore led the flight at a speed which suited Joe, who +did not find it very hard to keep up, seeing that the way lay downhill. +As for the Redskin, he might have been out for a promenade only; his +shoes slid over the now hard-frozen surface with a queer little +rustling sound, seeming to carry the user's legs rather than to require +effort on his part. His head was sunk low down upon his breast, his +hooked nose and upturned chin approximated. But nothing escaped this +man of the woods, this child of nature, whose hearing and instincts +were as developed as those of the wildest animal. +</P> + +<P> +Hank made a pretty, if a rugged picture. The little man seemed almost +to have his ears cocked backwards. In any case, they lay flat against +his head, the coon-skin cap just dropping on to them. His head was +erect, and even as he slid along over the snow there was little doubt +that not a sound escaped him. +</P> + +<P> +"Them critters ha' jest come to the spot whar we dropped in on their +trace," he growled. "You kin tell as they're finely bothered. Seems +to me they'll send a party forward and one along this way, and in a bit +we shall hear a hullabaloo that'll be loud enough to scare the moose +this side of the big lakes. You ain't tired, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not I!" came the hearty answer. "Could go on for a while longer." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you'll have need. There won't be so much between us by the time +we reach camp; then it'll be a case fer thinkin'." +</P> + +<P> +As if the question of their further movements bothered him, as indeed +it did, his fingers slid up beneath his cap, a habit the little fellow +had, and played with a loose lock of his thick hair; for Hank's hair +was thick. Barbers do not live round the corner in the backwoods of +Canada, and a long crop of hair is rather an advantage to a man when +the temperature is below zero. It followed, therefore, that Hank's +head was well covered, and Joe's also. Indeed, our hero showed a +somewhat ungainly growth of fluff about chin and cheeks and upper lip, +which, if it made promise of budding manhood, could not be said to be +expressly elegant. But there again your backwoodsman shines. The man +who carries all his belongings with him upon his back and sets off for +a winter, meaning to spend it in the open air, subsisting on what his +gun can procure for him, is not likely to be over-nervous as to his +appearance. Hair will grow, and garments will become rent, even with +the greatest care. Life also is too strenuous to make smaller things +matter. Suffice it to say that Joe looked a gentleman in spite of his +get-up, while already he had proved himself a jovial and boon +companion, one ready to enjoy sport if it came, to take the rough with +the smooth, and to face danger as if it were part of the day's +happenings. +</P> + +<P> +"Ha! There they go, yelping like a pack o' dogs," cried Hank, a little +later, when shouts and yelps came resounding from the forest and across +the snow-clad face of the hillside. "Let 'em yell! It don't do us no +harm, and don't bring the critters any nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"How far now to camp?" asked Joe, swinging his head round. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess we're more'n halfway; in half an hour we shall do it. Suppose +these fellers has been there already and has cleared all that we left." +</P> + +<P> +The suggestion was disconcerting, for supposing the enemy had taken all +the worldly belongings of this little party, how could they face a +prolonged journey? In the summer it would make but little difference, +for a stew-pan and a kettle are not absolute necessaries. Compared +with the needs of the Redskins, they are merely luxuries, though long +acquaintance with those useful articles has made white men find them an +important portion of camping equipment. The habit of tea-drinking +throughout the settlements and townships of the Dominion requires a +kettle, and Joe doubted whether even the resourceful Beaver Jack could +supplement such an article, however many birch trees there might be, +and whatever his skill in fashioning the bark. +</P> + +<P> +"Never cry till you're kicked," sang out Hank cheerfully, "and when +you're kicked jest kick back mighty hard, ef only to show as you're +still movin'. Ef they've took our kit, it's bad; ef they wipe us out +clean, it's wuss. Let's put on steam a bit." +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack seemed to understand the demand at once, for he broke into +something resembling a jog trot, if there is such a thing when dealing +with snowshoes. In any case, his feet slid over the snow at increased +pace, and Joe found himself sweeping forward at a speed which set the +freezing air buzzing against his ears, and brought a bright flush of +colour to his face. It soon became evident, too, that the wily Redskin +had noted every feature of the ground as he led his friends from the +camp that morning; for suddenly, as the surface ceased to shelve and +became almost level, he changed his direction. Nor did he join the +wide track which presently crossed before him; he merely grunted and +pointed. +</P> + +<P> +"Half-breeds come along there," he said. "Go different way ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +Joe looked closely at the trace they were crossing. There were the +marks of the runners of two sleighs cutting through tracks evidently +left by the dog teams, and on either hand, and mixed up with the former +marks, were the impressions of many snowshoes. +</P> + +<P> +"But—" he began, "if this is their line, and they followed us from the +camp, as seems more than likely, why not take the same line back? They +are sure to have come the quickest way." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet; they jest followed our trace, and guess we came direct," said +Hank. "Only you can't see our marks, as they've trod all over 'em. +But you leave this here matter to Beaver Jack. He aer a cunnin' boy, +and 'way back at the end of his head he's got an idea that'll knock +fits out of them 'ere critters. I've half guessed at it already; +you'll see. Seems to me we shall almost fly the last half of the +distance." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Joe stared at the little hunter. He was quite willing to be +led, and had implicit faith in his companions, but he was one of those +inquisitive fellows who like to know the why and wherefore of +everything. "But—fly!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Ay—fly!" grinned Hank; "jest go along quicker nor a sleigh could take +us. Ain't that it, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack could enjoy a joke with anyone, only he enjoyed it in a +manner peculiarly his own, or, one might more correctly say, in a +manner characteristic of his people. His eyes were twinkling as he +faced about, while his hooked nose and upturned chin seemed to have +approached even nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"It is well that the young men should know what is happening," he said. +"They look to their elders for instruction, and in asking thus Joe +shows that he is interested. It will also tell him the need there is +always to watch the country he passes through. Listen: the land beyond +falls very steeply. Leaving the camp, we passed to the right, so as to +gain a track which was easy. To climb is hard; to descend is a +different matter." +</P> + +<P> +It was not all said in that fashion, for Beaver Jack's English was not +of an advanced order. But a man of intelligence could understand him +with ease, and, hearing what he had to say, Joe quickly realized what +was about to happen. Also he remembered that the ground did rise +immediately in front of their camp, and at such an angle that to climb +it would have been almost impossible; but to descend would be easy. +</P> + +<P> +"Easy as fallin' off a house," grunted Hank. "Jest sit down on your +snowshoes and slide; sleighing won't be in it." +</P> + +<P> +Speeding along now across a field of virgin snow through which an +occasional tree cropped, the party were not long in gaining a belt of +forest trees clinging to the hillside. Passing through these, they +again emerged on to a space which was open, and over which the white +winter mantle was spread, without so much as a footmark to mar its +beauty. But the field seemed to end abruptly on that edge farthest +from the summit of the hills, and striking out for the white line where +sky and snow seemed to merge, the trio soon found themselves on the +verge of a steep and smooth declivity. From it a splendid view was to +be obtained, for the rays from the declining sun lit up a gorgeous +landscape, swept with white from end to end, dotted here and there with +darker patches, showing long shadows where the hollows lay, while +patches of trees of larger and smaller extent cropped up everywhere. +There was their camp, too, nestling at the foot of a clump of pines, +while at its back was one huge expanse of white, unbroken, unmarked, +bearing not even a shadow. +</P> + +<P> +"A lake, and a big 'un, too," observed Hank. "Ef we'd looked that way +this morning once we got on to the hill we might have seen it. But we +was in the trees most of the time, and I expect that folds in the +ground kept us elsewhere. Now fer a slide. Slip yer gun from yer +shoulder and use it as a guiding stick. Yer see, it's mighty steep +here, and though, ef you rolled from top to bottom, it wouldn't do no +great harm—for there's drifts that would catch you—still it's nicer +and better to go face forward. So put the butt in on one side and a +little behind, and guide and brake with it." +</P> + +<P> +That was a glorious ride down the hill. It carried Joe back to days, +now so far off they seemed, when there had been a heavy fall of snow in +England, and he, with friends in the little town, had rigged up a +toboggan and had carried it to the hills. The speed then had been +great; it was terrific here. However, there was no time for pausing; +besides, the Redskin made nothing of it. This form of progress seemed +to him to be much the same as any other. Without a word, with hardly a +look at his comrades, he strode to the very edge, sat down on his +snowshoes, and, thrusting the butt of his gun into the snow, pushed +himself over the brink. He went whirling down before a mighty cloud of +snowflakes kicked up by his shoes, and left behind him a track which a +man standing in the valley below could have seen from a great distance. +Once he swerved, and looked as if he were about to turn over; but the +guiding gun held him straight, and in an extraordinary short space of +time he was waiting for them at the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"Wall," grinned Hank, "you or me? Ef there was a chance of them +critters coming along I'd say you." +</P> + +<P> +"And I'd say you," laughed Joe. "I'd feel that I had to stay to +protect you." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee! Ef that don't beat the hull band," gasped Hank. "Protect me, +you said! As ef I war a baby. Now, see here, lad; we'll make a race +of it. You're heavier nor me, and so will have an advantage. At the +same time, I'm that light I'll slide over the snow easier. We'll see +who makes the quickest job of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Agreed!" cried Joe. "Ready?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ready it aer." +</P> + +<P> +"Then off!" +</P> + +<P> +They thrust themselves over the edge and went whirling down, huge +clouds of snow spurting to either side of their snowshoes. Nor did Joe +find the task one of the easiest. He swerved, and with a dig of his +gun recovered his position. But the movement sent him twirling the +opposite way. He made a desperate effort, and wrenched his body round +again till he faced downhill; then, just as is the case with skis, +something seemed to go wrong with his snowshoes. They displayed an +unaccountable and all-powerful tendency to separate. No amount of +effort would draw them together. The result was speedy disaster. Joe +rose a little, struggling to regain equilibrium, but a curious thing +happened. The very raising of his body proved fatal; for suddenly the +shoes stuck fast, the toes entering the surface in spite of the steep +slope. Thus arrested, our hero pitched forward on to his head, doubled +up into a beautiful and most elegant circle, and went speeding down the +hill like a ball, this time at an infinitely quicker rate. His antics, +too, from that moment forward were more than funny, for he straightened +himself out, with arms and legs widespread. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have the breath knocked clean out of my body if I don't come to a +stop soon," he thought. "Ah! That does it; that's better!" +</P> + +<P> +However, the relief was for the moment only. The pace lessened; he +began to think that presently he would find a resting-place from which +he might once more put himself in position for the remainder of the +descent. But alas! he was to be disappointed. Shooting into a deep +drift, he found himself buried beneath the snow, and expected to stay +there. But the force of his descent carried all before it. His body +broke through the mass of snow, and once more he was hurtling downward, +falling this way and that, sliding, rolling head first sometimes, and +at others the reverse. At last, however, he was able to arrest the +rapid and exciting movement. +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" he cried. "That was a doer! Where's my gun? And one shoe gone +also." +</P> + +<P> +It happened that the lost articles had more or less kept him company. +The gun, in fact, lay within a few feet of him, while as he turned +there was the lost snowshoe descending in a dignified manner towards +him. He snatched at it, donned it in haste, and once more prepared for +the rest of the journey. +</P> + +<P> +"Better luck, I hope," he said. "Ain't Hank grinning! The little +beggar made a clean run right to the bottom." +</P> + +<P> +On this second occasion Joe was more fortunate. He sat his shoes like +a practised hand, and went hurtling down to within a few feet of his +waiting comrades. +</P> + +<P> +"You've come at last," grinned Hank, as Joe picked himself up and rose +to an erect position. "Warn't it fair flyin'? Seemed to me as ef you +was spreading your wings because you wasn't quite satisfied. But you +ain't hurt, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit; rather enjoyed it," sang out our hero. +</P> + +<P> +"And ain't too much shook up? That sorter things kicks the breath +outer a body." +</P> + +<P> +"As fit as ever," grinned Joe, "and ready to continue. Where's the +camp?" +</P> + +<P> +"You're at the front door, as you might almost say," smiled the little +hunter. "There it aer." +</P> + +<P> +There it was indeed, almost nestling at the foot of the hill, and in +any case within a few hundred yards. It took the little party but a +few minutes to reach it. +</P> + +<P> +"Will they have taken all or not?" asked Hank somewhat anxiously, as +they came up to the place. "Ef so, it aer a bad lookout; ef not, why, +things is beginning to move in our favour." +</P> + +<P> +A deep-toned exclamation came from the Redskin, while his hawk-like +face took on for one brief instant an appearance of sublime content. +</P> + +<P> +"That's settled the matter," cried Hank. "You kin see as it aer all +right, fer Beaver Jack stood to lose the hull of his pelts and the +winter's work, which for him would be serious. He's seen that things +aer all right." +</P> + +<P> +"No take the pelts and the sleigh as they easy able to come back when +they killed us," said Beaver Jack, his eyes twinkling. +</P> + +<P> +"And so we'll take 'em," cried Hank. "But where? That do tease me +more'n a trifle. Jest about here we ain't no better off than we was +back up the hill, and men lyin' on the ridge above us could flick +bullets into our camp every time. I ain't bad at some sorter +conundrums, but here guess I've come to an end. Joe, boy, you are the +youngest and brightest; what do we do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Pack up at once, put all our things on Beaver Jack's sleigh, and make +clear across the lake to that island," said our hero, promptly pointing +across the smooth expanse of snow to where, nestling in the centre +almost, was a prominence above which hung the heavily-weighted branches +of a group of evergreens. "That'll be a fine castle," he said. "We've +now grub with us, besides pots and pans; there'll be firewood yonder, +and with that we'll be able to make ourselves comfortable. I'm for +making for that island." +</P> + +<P> +Hank gave a little exclamation, and struck himself violently on the +chest as if in punishment for not having thought of the same movement, +while the Redskin went to his sleigh, on which his store of pelts was +still bound, and taking up the tow rope began to move away from the +camp. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer jest the very thing for us," observed Hank, with eagerness. "I +war a thickhead too never to have thought of it. But lend a hand, Joe, +and let's get the traps fixed and packed. Them critters ain't likely +to be long now in coming." +</P> + +<P> +Very rapidly but carefully they packed all their goods on Beaver Jack's +sleigh, then, led by the Redskin, they stepped upon the snow-covered +surface of the lake. And as they pushed their way across it the shouts +of the enemy came to their ear, while presently they could be seen +descending the hillside. +</P> + +<P> +"They've seed what we're up to, and guess as they can't reach us afore +we're at the island," said Hank. "So now they'll go back to collect +their sleighs and dog teams. That'll give us time to breathe. We'll +make our lean-to right off, and get a kettle of water boiling. A brew +of hot tea won't come amiss after all this business." +</P> + +<P> +They found, in fact, that cups of boiling hot tea, sweetened with some +of the store of maple sugar which they had brought with them, was most +reviving. It sent the blood surging through their bodies, and, had +their courage been somewhat lacking, would even have restored that. +But Joe and his friends had a deal of fight left in them yet. They +hoped still to preserve their lives, and show these half-breeds who had +so outrageously attacked them that matters were not all in their favour. +</P> + +<P> +"We aer boxed in, more or less," said Hank, surveying his surroundings; +"but they ain't much better off. The moment one o' the critters steps +off on to the lake, we sees him. There'll be a moon to-night, and for +a week almost, so night won't make much difference to it. Joe, I begin +to think as this here island aer going to be the saving of us." +</P> + +<P> +Whether or no that was to be the case had yet to be seen. It was +fairly evident that the gallant little trio had a strenuous and +exciting time before them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XVII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded +</P> + +<P> +Nowhere else in the vast territories of the Dominion of Canada could +Joe and his two comrades have come upon a spot more suited to their +purpose than was the tiny island which cropped out almost in the centre +of the frozen and snow-covered surface of the vast lake they had +encountered during their prospecting tour in New Ontario. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a fair treat," observed Hank, rubbing his half-frozen hands +together, with a gusto there was no mistaking. "I allow that when we +made back to our camp this afternoon things was looking uncommonly +black, and ef we had found that all our traps had been taken or burned +by them half-breeds, why, in course we should ha' been up a gum tree, +as Australians is fond of saying. How do I know they're fond o' sayin' +that, young feller?" he asked, with an appearance of severity he was +far from feeling; for Joe had laughingly asked the question. "Jest fer +this reason: there's Australians comes to Canada—not 'cos they don't +like their own country, for I never heard of one as didn't swear by +Australia; but, you see, things don't move quite as fast out there as +they do here. This Dominion aer the place for settlers above all +others for two good reasons. First, and it's a big 'un—the distance +from the old country is so short, which makes the passage easy and +cheap; and second, this here Government aer on the move all the time, +more even than that over in Australia. Yer see, they've got the masses +pouring in, and huge preparations has to be made. But we was talking +of this island." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Joe, who long since had made a tour of the place. Not +that that was a journey of vast extent or of difficulty, for the little +heap of rock which cropped from the bed of the lake in such picturesque +fashion was barely big enough to house three dozen men. That number +would be uncomfortably squeezed together, as a matter of fact, and some +would be pressed from the edge. Then, again, its outer edge was raised +for all the world like the rim of a saucer, while the centre was +depressed into a number of irregular hollows. "A fine place," admitted +Joe warmly. "Shouldn't wonder if in summertime there is fresh water in +these hollows. In any case, though, that wouldn't matter, for there is +abundance of water in the lake. Seems to me we shall be able to make a +fort here that will bother those people." +</P> + +<P> +"What'd you do?" asked Hank, eager to discover the plans that Joe might +have made. "Here you are with a couple of young fellers, me and Beaver +Jack, to look after, and it aer up to you to protect us and lead us. +What'll you do? No laughing matter, young feller—I'm serious." +</P> + +<P> +It was hard to believe that, for never did hunter wear a more jovial +expression. To be precise, that exhilarating flight from before the +enemy, the discovery of their camp equipment undamaged, and then the +gaining of this unique position had lifted the spirits of all three of +the party wonderfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a regular nest, this aer," grinned Hank. "Wall? What do you +make of it? Them critters is away over there talking things over, you +kin guess. Havin' a bit of a pow-wow, as the sayin' is. They've seed +us come away here, in course, for even now that the dusk are falling +you kin follow the track we've left across the snow. It aer up to you, +Joe, to fix a plan that'll save the lives of your two comrades." +</P> + +<P> +There was a twinkle in the little man's eyes, and, looking at him, one +would have said that he didn't care the toss of a button for the enemy, +though, like a sensible and cautious man, he would neglect nothing +which would give him an advantage over them. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd raise this edge all round, first of all," said Joe, "and I'd make +dummies to draw their bullets. We ourselves don't want to be perched +high up, unless during the night, for when it's daytime one can see +across the bare surface outside for a great distance; then I'd make +openings close to the rock through which we could fire. It seems to me +that by doing so we shall bother them, and make it difficult for them +to pick us off as they advance." +</P> + +<P> +"And how'd you raise the edge?" asked Hank, with interest. "Pile up +snow? That takes time." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd cut bricks of snow," was Joe's answer; "then, when they were built +into position, I'd break the ice, if that's possible, and throw water +on the outside face of the wall we've constructed. Talk about +armour-plate on a ship! That'll convert our fort into a regular +dreadnought." +</P> + +<P> +Hank turned on an expansive grin for our hero's special edification, +while even the austere Redskin smiled. "And these here snow bricks," +said Hank, "you'd take 'em from where?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just outside the island. That would leave a kind of trench all round, +and so give the enemy a greater height to climb, supposing they got to +close quarters." +</P> + +<P> +"Which aer likely enough, seeing as they're so many, and kin scatter so +as to make shooting extry difficult. Shucks, lad! Guess you've put +the case nicely. To make good out here we've got to have protection +more than rifles kin give us. We'll build that wall; seems to me it +aer the first thing that's wanted." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps half an hour or more had passed since they reached the spot +where they were now awaiting the enemy, and during that time the busy +Indian had constructed a comfortable lean-to, while, as has been +narrated, Joe had built a fire and boiled the kettle. There being no +sign yet of the half-breeds, the whole party sat down about the fire to +discuss Joe's suggestions, while that young fellow himself delved in +one of the bags they always carried with them, brought to light a chunk +of frozen meat which, in that condition, would have required a +good-sized axe to cut, and placed it over the flames. Ten minutes +later, when the frost was driven from it, he cut a number of slices, +thrust his cleaning rod through them, and poised the rod upon a couple +of forked sticks above the fire. As for the remainder of the piece of +flesh, it was quickly frozen solid; for by this time the moon was up +and the cold was intense. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer nice to have a fire, and a hollow to sit in," admitted Hank, +who, as a rule, seemed to be absolutely unaffected by extremes of +temperature. Joe had, in fact, seen the little man cool and collected, +and not inconvenienced in the slightest, even when working on the +hottest day, with a swarm of mosquitoes about him; while the icy breath +of this winter had passed unnoticed. "We aer in fer a cold time," said +the little hunter, staring into the embers, "and seems to me that that +'ere wall aer wanted fer another reason besides fer keeping them skunks +out. It'll make us as warm inside here as ef we was tucked in our +blankets on the cosiest feather bed you ever thought of." +</P> + +<P> +"While these men outside will freeze," added Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Not they!" came the instant answer. "Them critters is used to life up +here. Wouldn't wonder ef they was 'way up by James Bay most winter +times, and there the cold aer wuss perhaps. They've enlarged our +shelter already, and likely as not they've built a fire right inside. +As soon as they've had a meal they'll turn right in, and the dogs along +with 'em. That'll send up the warmth and keep an Arctic cold out. But +it's ten chances to one as they'll try to rush us before the morning. +Now ef them steaks is done we'll tackle them, and then get to at +building." +</P> + +<P> +There was a delightful odour of cooking about the little island, the +overhanging branches of the evergreen pines seeming to hem it in. +Joe's mouth was watering before he declared that the meal was ready, +and then, having handed a slice to each of his friends, together with a +species of damper cake made from flour and water toasted on the embers, +he fell upon the food himself with a gusto that told how fear had no +place with him. A pipe completed Hank's contentment, then, the moon +being now full up, and the enemy out of sight, the trio set to work to +erect the walls of their fortification. With their long-bladed knives +they cut oblong chunks of frozen snow with the same ease as one would +cut butter, and then, leaving Joe alone to do the building, sent block +after block of the material sliding to the position he had taken. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll get along quicker like that," said Hank. "It don't take more'n +a couple of seconds to lift a block into place, while it takes five +perhaps to cut one. So ef one builds, t'others'll be able to keep him +supplied." +</P> + +<P> +It was really remarkable how rapidly the wall rose. In an hour there +was a complete circle all round the rim of the island, which, being +naturally raised, gave greater height to the artificial wall. The +second row of blocks was soon added, Joe leaving spaces here and there +through which a rifle could be fired. The third and fourth and others +swiftly followed, and when four hours had gone the task was completed. +Then Hank attacked the ice with an axe which he always carried, and, +having cut through a foot and more, came upon water. A tin pot +constantly replenished supplied a means whereby the outer face of the +wall was drenched, and so fierce was the cold that the liquid congealed +almost as soon as it had fallen on the surface at which it was +projected. +</P> + +<P> +"We kin make our dummies any time now," said Hank. "Two of 'em'll be +enough, and the one who's going to take the first watch'll find they +will help to pass the time in making. It's nigh midnight now; I'll +take a spell. Joe'll relieve when three hours have gone, and Beaver +Jack later. Let's get to and make the most of the time before us." +</P> + +<P> +In a short time silence fell upon this little isolated camp. Down in +the depths of the lowest hollow, huddled in their blankets, and as warm +as toast, lay Joe and the Redskin, packed close together; for an Arctic +winter needs to be treated with consideration. No warmth that can be +retained can be allowed to escape, and as two bodies huddled close +together generate a temperature which is greater than that generated by +one, it follows that campers sleep pressed close together. We have +seen the plan put into operation elsewhere. On the high veldt in South +Africa, when nightly frosts are keen, and when tents and proper +covering are not obtainable, your campaigners soon lose all feelings of +foolish pride. Officers divide into couples and bed down beneath the +combined allowance of blankets, while we have seen as many as four of +the rank and file snug beneath their covering, snoring blissfully, +grateful for the warmth of their comrades. +</P> + +<P> +Perched above this tranquil camp, his keen eyes surveying the +surroundings with as much ease as a watchman can keep guard from a +tower built for that special purpose, Hank looked out across the +surface of the lake to the shore where the enemy was lying. His pipe +was clenched between his teeth, his hands sunk deep into his pockets, +while he himself was immovable. But every now and again the glow in +the bowl of his pipe brightened, showing that he was drawing on the +weed, while a puff of smoke issued from his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"The critters!" was a favourite exclamation with him; "Them skunks!" +another; "Ef I only knew what they was after," an oft-repeated sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Yer see," Hank was saying to himself, "there don't seem to be any +reason in all this business; but there's something behind it all that +we can't even guess at. Somehow I can't help thinkin' that this here +Joe ha' an importance in the matter." +</P> + +<P> +What would the little hunter have given to be able to peer into the +camp of the enemy at that particular moment? He could see the glare of +a huge fire, and could imagine men and dogs sleeping together under a +shelter. But Hank was an exceedingly practical fellow, not one gifted +with an unusual stock of imagination. He could not, therefore, guess +that the number of the enemy was divided, that there was one who was a +leader. And yet that was the case. Half-breeds formed the backbone of +the party—half-breeds of the lowest character, idle vagabonds to be +found round and about the forts in the north of Canada. Not, let us +say at once, that all half-breeds are idle and worthless; by no means +is that the case. There are, of course, black sheep in every flock, +and here a number were gathered together, and at that moment huddled +fast asleep in the shelter of the lean-to which Joe and his friends had +erected. Some ten paces away a second shelter had been constructed, of +rather ample proportions, while a fire blazed at the entrance, warming +the interior. One side of this structure was filled by a sleigh, which +had been put there for a special purpose, the blankets lying upon it +showing that it was meant to serve as a couch. On this same sleigh sat +a man, a bulky fellow, muffled in furs, bearded, and almost +unrecognizable because of the skin cap drawn down over his ears. He +leaned over a wooden box which did duty for a table, and at the precise +moment when Hank was pulling at his pipe and wondering who these +enemies might be, the leader of the band of rascals had his thoughts +attracted to one at least of Hank's little party. A long envelope lay +beside him, while a document was spread out on the improvised table. +As for illumination, some was supplied by the fire, some by the clear +moon overhead, and most by a torch of birch bark, the resinous material +in which caused it to splutter and burn brilliantly. +</P> + +<P> +Let us take a look at this individual and, lifting his cap, endeavour +to recognize him. But time brings changes in all directions, and puts +its stamp on the majority of faces. Anxiety may hasten this inevitable +change, while ill health, worry, an ill-conditioned mind, grasping and +avarice are all capable of imprinting their own particular marks on the +features. In the case of the individual in question, a brutal mind was +displayed by a face that had never been handsome, and was now heavily +seamed and lined, boasting overhung brows, and a mouth which was set in +something approaching a permanent snarl. It was a face which had +changed vastly in the past few months. For this was Hurley, this was +the criminal who had so nearly killed our hero after committing murder, +and who had made his escape into the forest, bearing Joe's riches and +that all-important envelope with him. We have learned how the man was +captured, and how he made good his escape again. We recollect that Joe +had recovered his dollars, but that the envelope was still missing. +Missing? No. It was there on that improvised table. Right away in +the wilds of Canada, in the depths of an Arctic winter, it had come to +view again, though now the seal was broken. +</P> + +<P> +"To my son, Joe Bradley," the ruffian leaning over the box read aloud, +as if he had an audience, picking up the envelope and holding it +closer. "The contents of this letter will explain to you many things +which I have never cared to refer to; but I beg of you never to open it +till you are in direst need or have earned the right to do so. Make +your way in the world, gather riches—then you can open and read." +</P> + +<P> +Hurley sneered at the words. He threw the envelope down with a gesture +of impatience. "Of course the fool obeyed," he growled; "waited till +he'd come out to Canada—in fact, till it was too late. And think what +he was losing. It makes me fair chuckle. There was a home ready-made +for him in England; there was gold to fill his pockets and keep 'em +filled; and there was servants all round about, so that he needn't have +done a hand's turn. Instead the young fool comes out to Canada and +slaves on a farm. Well, some people are born idiots!" +</P> + +<P> +Evidently with the reassuring reflection that he, Hurley, was no fool, +the rascal turned to the contemplation of the document. He spread it +out smoothly, leaned his elbows on either side, and perhaps for the +hundredth time read the story enclosed, a tale, let it be remembered, +meant only for the eyes of our hero; for therein set down, by the hand +of a man now dead, was a history of importance. Hurley gloated over +the contents of this document, weighing every word within it; then he +sat back on the sleigh and gave himself up to dreaming. His savage, +careworn face took on something approaching a pleasant expression, for +Hurley's were pleasant dreams. In them he imagined himself entirely +successful. He built castles for himself in the frosty air of the +lean-to, forgetful that the best of schemes here and there come to a +sudden and disappointing ending. +</P> + +<P> +"It can be done," he said aloud; "there is nothing to prevent me, for I +have considered the plan from every side. I kill the boy; that is the +first move. I take copies of the certificate of death when I leave the +country, and when I reach Great Britain I am Bradley—Mr. Bradley, +senior. Ha!" +</P> + +<P> +A grin of triumph overspread his features, while he pushed his cap back +as if the very thought of success made him hot. Looking at Hurley at +that moment, one realized that he was one of Canada's bad bargains and +an unscrupulous ruffian. As for the tale which he had gathered from +the document which had been stolen from our hero, we will not set it +down in full, as had been done by Joe's father. Suffice it to say that +the narrative was somewhat unusual. It carried the history of two +lives back some fifty years, and told of the birth of Joe's father. +Son of a man of wealth, his mother had died soon after his appearance. +Then a stepmother had appeared upon the scene, while in due time he was +presented with a stepbrother. At that point the tale took on some +particular interest, for by the machinations of his stepmother, Joe's +father had at an early age found himself almost penniless. To be +precise, when six years of age he was banished from the establishment +and sent to live with a schoolmaster at the other end of the country. +Never once did he return home. Sums for his maintenance were +forthcoming, while he drifted unhappily from school to school. He then +found himself placed in an office, and hardly was he self-supporting +when all allowances ceased. In place he gathered the fact that his +stepbrother was now of age and had succeeded to his father's property. +</P> + +<P> +"Succeeded to every penny of it," declared Hurley aloud, "and this here +natural son done out of it. But he got to learn that he was the next +in succession. He's too hurt with all this kind of treatment, and too +proud to go back to the home. He loses himself in some provincial +town, and don't say anything. But the chap who gets all the goods +don't marry. This Bradley knows that well. Then what does he do? +Writes this here, and sends every proof he's got of his own birth and +suchlike to solicitors in London. He don't see 'em hisself. Not a +bit. He sends the documents, and encloses the receipt which was sent +for them in this letter. This here matter can be worked as easy as +eating." +</P> + +<P> +The reasoning of this rascal could be followed now with some ease, +while it is merely necessary to mention one more item in Mr. Bradley's +letter to our hero. He related that his stepbrother, realizing the +injustice done to the elder son, had, as the years passed, made efforts +to discover him. He had advertised, and put the matter in the hands of +searchers. +</P> + +<P> +"In fact, he aer anxious for this here Bradley to turn up, and it aer +clear from the letter that when he does, or his son, there's money and +a comfortable living. An heir's wanted, that's truth, and seein' as +I'm too old to act the son, and am only a trifle younger than this here +Mr. Bradley would ha' been, why, here's the heir. Hurley'll fill the +bill as well as any other." +</P> + +<P> +There was the diabolical plot in its entirety. That document just went +to show that Joe's father was a man possessed of a proud spirit and of +good ideas, for he laid it down on the outside of the envelope that he +wished his son to earn his place in the world before he opened and read +the contents. He would rather see Joe fighting his own battles than +coddling in luxury and spending the money of an uncle. He preached +independence and energy, and our hero had shown it. It was the fortune +of war, perhaps, that the document had come into the hands of such a +scoundrel, and, reviewing it and all the circumstances together, one +now saw the reason for this extraordinary and unprovoked assault upon +the little party. Hurley had gathered means by some dishonest method; +he had traced Joe's movements; and now he had rounded him up, and with +the rascals he had hired had him almost within the net. +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow or next day, don't matter which," he told himself; "but kill +him I will, then away for England." +</P> + +<P> +For Hurley it was a fascinating conspiracy; for Joe, had he known the +ins and outs of the story, it was likely to prove more than +disconcerting. But forewarned is forearmed, and there is this to be +said for our hero. The first shots had missed him. He was now behind +cover, while two of the stanchest friends were there to protect him. +</P> + +<P> +"P'raps them critters will have had enough already and will sheer off," +said Hank, still sitting motionless on the top of the snow wall when +the watch he had been keeping came to its end. "Ef not, then it proves +as there's something deep behind all this here business. Hi, Joe! It +aer your turn now, and jest you keep movin'. It's all right fer me as +is an old hand at the game to sit tight and look about me. Young chaps +feels the cold wuss and soon gets sleepy. Move all the time, and take +a fill of 'bacca." +</P> + +<P> +It was a habit into which Joe had fallen, and with very good reason, +too, seeing the open-air life he was leading and the companions he +associated with; for your Canadian backwoodsman loves his smoke. A +short clay dangles from his teeth on most occasions. Joe therefore +roused himself swiftly from his blanket; and here again was something +more which camping had taught him, namely, to be a light sleeper. Hank +might be said to sleep always with one eye open, for he heard the +slightest movement. Beaver Jack might often enough appear to be sunk +in the deepest slumber, and yet, if one happened to peer into his face, +one discovered that both of those deep-sunk brilliant orbs were +actually twinkling. Our hero, too, would sit up with a jerk on the +smallest occasion, so that Hank's call had brought him to his feet +promptly. And now he watched the little man shake himself like a dog +and toss a blanket about him. Then Joe crammed weed into his pipe +thoughtfully, lifted a glowing ash from the fire, and puffed long +flames into the bowl. With a trail of smoke about his head, he began +to march the round of this strange fortification. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard as a brick," he told himself, running his hand along the outside +of the snowy wall. "Wouldn't turn a bullet, perhaps, but almost, I +reckon. Ah! there's the fire the enemy are burning. Jolly cheek +they've got to make use of our old camp! Wonder what they're up to? +Planning an attack for the early hours of the morning, if I ain't +mistaken." +</P> + +<P> +Joe tramped round and round, halting every few minutes to stare about +him, a comprehensive look, in fact, which took in his entire +surroundings. From his perch on the wall he could appreciate the +commanding situation. The countryside seemed to be cut off by that +wide-spreading smooth surface, with its soft covering of white snow, +unbroken in all directions save for the track which he and his friends +had made in gaining the island. The edge of the lake, where the bank +rose from the frozen water, was now so merged with the vast sheet of +ice itself, that even from the island, the best point of vantage for +observation, one could not say where ice ended and solid earth began. +Over all the wintry moon threw its own particular magnificence, bathing +the scene in brilliant rays which accentuated the pure whiteness of +everything. +</P> + +<P> +"Ripping!" Joe exclaimed. "Just fancy if we had such scenes in +England! And people grumble at a Canadian winter. I dare say there +are lots of reasons for wishing the weather were milder, for a winter +such as this is stops a heap of work. You can't sow or plough or +harrow. You can't build even a simple shack such as is wanted on the +farms. You can't ride a horse, as a general rule, while there isn't +feed for cattle. But it's glorious for all that. Give me a bright, +sunny winter's day in the Dominion." +</P> + +<P> +"You aer sure as there ain't no movement?" asked Hank, suddenly sitting +up. "Seemed to me as ef I heard a sound." +</P> + +<P> +"A dog yelped yonder," answered Joe, who was alert and taking notice of +everything. +</P> + +<P> +"A dog?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; there's the sound again. I think, too, that it was a different +animal." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it aer a case of all hands on deck," whispered the little +trapper, become suddenly cautious. "Ef dogs is barking, it stands to +reason that they has been disturbed. As a general rule, they'll sleep +a night like this through without moving; so, young feller, you kin +look to see them critters afore very long. I'll rouse Beaver Jack and +then get a kettle o' tea boiling. What's the hour, lad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Five o'clock or thereabouts. Ah! there's another dog, and——" +</P> + +<P> +"You kin see them skunks?" asked the little hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"No—yes! Two sleighs have just shot out from behind the trees where +we were camping last night, but I can't make out how many men are +aboard them.' +</P> + +<P> +"Wall? Aer they heading straight along here?" came the request in a +few moments, while Hank stirred the fire, and, thrusting handfuls of +snow into the wide-mouthed kettle, put the latter upon its hook above +the flames. +</P> + +<P> +"No; they've run on to the lake surface, and are making a tour round. +It appears to me as if they were hunting for an opening." +</P> + +<P> +There came a gurgle of amusement from the little hunter. He presented +a grinning face to our hero, and then climbed up beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"That 'ere wall fair bothers 'em," he laughed. "Guess when you look at +this island from 'way outside, there's jest a smooth white surface +without so much as a break. Now, where aer them critters? Ah! over +there, going along easy. I make it that there's two men aboard each +sleigh, and that this here's merely a kind of scouting. Keep well +down, me lad. We ain't goin' to help them by even a little." +</P> + +<P> +In ghostly silence the two sleighs circled round the island. They kept +at a respectful distance, then dividing, ran in opposite directions. +After some ten minutes had passed they met again, and, swerving so as +to take the same path, went off in the direction of the camp which the +enemy were occupying. It was perhaps half an hour later, when the +little garrison had fortified themselves with a steaming cup of tea, +and pipes were comfortably going, that Joe again gave a warning. +</P> + +<P> +"Coming in full force," he said. "There's four men at least on each of +the sleighs. They're making directly for the island." +</P> + +<P> +It was a true report, for when Hank and Beaver Jack joined Joe, there +were the two sleighs, their teams spread out in front, tearing along +towards the island, while each one of the rascals on the sleighs bent +down, hoping thereby to decrease the wind resistance. +</P> + +<P> +"I could plump a shot clear into 'em now," observed Hank, nursing his +rifle. "But guess it's better to give 'em what they've been axing for +from the beginning. Ef we're goin' to get out of this bother with our +scalps, as you might say, we aer got to read them critters a bad +lesson. Shootin' at them from a distance won't do it. We've got to +run the chance of 'em getting at us, and wait till they're at close +quarters." +</P> + +<P> +So they watched the two crews advance, till a sudden shout caused the +drivers to draw rein. Then eight figures leaped from the sleighs and, +dividing at once, came racing forward. +</P> + +<P> +Joe and his friends watched them quietly and with determination. +Ignorant of the cause of the attack, they were naturally incensed, +while such a thing as surrender had not occurred to them. But a +looker-on must have had serious doubts as to their success; indeed, it +may be said that their danger was great and pressing. As for the +scheme which the ruffian Hurley had originated, his chances of ridding +himself of a rival may truthfully be described as rosy. With Joe +Bradley slain in this outlandish situation, there seemed little +difficulty in carrying out the remainder of a disgraceful and cowardly +conspiracy. Hurley would present himself in England. He would demand +those documents and proof of origin. A fine fortune and position +seemed to be awaiting him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +On the Defensive +</P> + +<P> +A strange silence had fallen upon attackers and attacked, once the +former had leaped from their sleighs and had begun to race across the +snow-covered surface of the lake. Not a sound broke from them, though +now and then there was a whimper from one of the dogs in the teams +attached to the sleighs; and neither Hank nor Joe or Beaver Jack so +much as uttered a syllable. Perhaps if they had leaped to the summit +of the wall they had built, and had shouted and thrown threats at the +enemy, it would have had the effect of spurring the latter on; for +opposition in any shape or form is apt to stimulate men to courage and +exertion, but silence depresses. The attackers seemed to lose heart +rapidly; then, as one stopped doubtfully, his comrades slowly copied +his example. Thereupon a burly figure turned upon them angrily. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward!" he shouted almost incoherently. "Why stop here? The fools +can kill you now as easily as they could if you were closer. Forward!" +</P> + +<P> +"Give 'em a sight of the dummies we've rigged up," whispered Hank at +once. "Jest show the tops o' their heads over the wall; I'll lie here +and give 'em a shot ef they want to come closer." +</P> + +<P> +He spread himself face downward on the snow and pushed his rifle +through one of the apertures which Joe had left. Meanwhile our hero +and the Redskin each took one of the dummies which the cunning little +trapper had manufactured during his hours of watching, and slowly +raised that part which was supposed to be the head over the summit of +the wall. Crouching as low as possible themselves, they moved the +dummies slowly to and fro; for they were some three yards from one +another. At once there came a loud shout from the open, and, staring +out through the aperture, Hank saw the same burly figure which he had +observed before dashing to and fro haranguing his following; but move +them he could not. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-320"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-320.jpg" ALT="A DEFENCE AGAINST ODDS" BORDER="2"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center"> +A DEFENCE AGAINST ODDS +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"What? You won't come on?" the three defenders heard him bellow. +"Never did I meet such cowards! Look at the men we've come for. Fire!" +</P> + +<P> +They could do that even if they would not advance, and in a twinkling +the seven half-breeds had thrown themselves into all sorts of +attitudes, and were busy with their weapons. There came an irregular +volley, while the narrow, elongated bullet of the modern weapon, the +larger, squat missile of the rifle somewhat out of date, and even the +huge round leaden ball discharged by a smoothbore came hurtling about +the fort. Joe heard again the zip-zip of rapidly-travelling bodies +cutting their way through a maze of branches, he felt the hail of +debris as it fell, while within a foot or more of his head he listened +to the dull thud of a bullet striking the hard-frozen wall, and heard +the queer ripping sound it made as it forced a way through and sped on +across the fort to the far wall. Then there was a pause, during which +there was deathly silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't in no hurry to fire," said Hank, in low tones, grinning up at +his companions, "and I'll tell you for why. Shouts and firing and +sichlike would make them critters come on; silence gives 'em the hump. +In any case, they ain't bustin' with pluck, and never did I see men +show less dash when attackin'. Say, Joe, ain't I heard that voice +before? Seems as ef I ought to know it." +</P> + +<P> +Before he could receive an answer, the burly man was again addressing +his men, strutting up and down before them; for though his orders had +been that they should divide and approach the island from every point +of the compass, the half-breeds lacking courage had held together, as +if the companionship of their fellows helped to hearten them. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward!" Joe heard the command given. "You can see where they are +now. They've rigged up a wall, and any one of us can hop over it in a +twinkling. Now, all together!" +</P> + +<P> +But his orders went unheeded. Instead, a second volley spluttered down +the irregular line, while once again a variety of shots swept against +the fort. Joe could see Beaver Jack's penetrating eyes twinkling. He +even fancied there was a smile on those lips which were always so +impassive. In any case, the Redskin pointed overhead to the dummy he +held and nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Fine shooting," he murmured. "Send bullet right through the head; +glad Beaver Jack not up there." +</P> + +<P> +Then Hank repeated his question. +</P> + +<P> +"Queer, ain't it, Joe? I'd swear I'd met that chap before. But——" +</P> + +<P> +"I believe—" began our hero doubtfully, "but it can't be." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't be? There's nothing that can't be 'way out here after what's +happened. I tell you, man and boy I've tracked the backwoods, and +never once have I been set on like this. I've heard o' ructions, in +course, but always near the forts and stations, or in the settlements. +But right out in the wilds like this—never! I'll eat my boots ef +these here critters ain't been set on us. Seems to me that ef we could +get a hold on that big chap as seems to lead 'em, and could make him +talk, there's a heap he could tell us. Who is he, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurley!" exclaimed Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? What? Hurley? That durned murderer! Shucks, lad, that's too +tall for anything!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm dead sure. Hurley's tall; Hurley's a big man; Hurley's voice is +the same as that." +</P> + +<P> +"But—" interrupted Hank hoarsely, keeping his eyes all the while on +the enemy, "but, grant you the voice is the same—now that you've said +it, I 'low that that aer Hurley's voice—he'd be mad to follow like +this. There's a string always round his neck, and he ain't likely to +come close to the men who know it. It ain't reasonable. Why, we could +hang the scoundrel any day we set hands on him!" +</P> + +<P> +"True enough," agreed Joe, "but—wait, they're moving. That rascal is +getting them to their feet; we'd better be ready for trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Joe had managed to squat down close to one of the openings, and as he +conversed with Hank had wriggled himself into a position which enabled +him to look out. Everything outside on the moonlit snow was visible. +Indeed, the white background showed up every detail, though, as it +happened that the enemy had their backs to the moon, their features +were indistinguishable. But features are of no account when bullets +are flying, or when an attack is about to be launched. The enemy had +gathered into a bunch, in spite of the shouts of their leader, and now, +fortified by even closer companionship, and goaded by the burly brute +who stood at their head, they poured in another volley, then, trailing +their weapons, dashed toward the fort. Joe jerked his dummy on to the +top of the wall and left it there; then his hand sought for his rifle, +and in a trice he had the muzzle grinning at the enemy. He jerked back +the bolt—for he always kept the weapon at safety—took a rapid aim at +one of the charging figures, and pulled the trigger. To his amazement, +the man at whom he aimed doubled up into a neat round ball and, +tumbling on the snow, rolled rapidly forward. But it was not for long. +He straightened himself suddenly, stood erect, and then threw his arms +overhead. A penetrating shriek came from him, and a moment later he +bounded into the air and fell face downward. Hank's rifle spat forth a +bullet in the interval and sent a second man rocking from side to side. +Long before Beaver Jack could get to one of the apertures, or Hank push +in a fresh cartridge, the enemy were in wild retreat, separating widely +and racing away as fast as their snowshoes would take them. As for +Joe, numbed fingers do not readily operate the bolt of even a modern +weapon, while, for the same reason, cartridges are hard to grip; so +that he had not even reloaded. But numbed fingers were not the only +reason for such delay; he was watching the man at whom he had fired. A +feeling of elation possessed him for one brief second as the rascal +doubled up and rolled forward, and then one of terror, of keen remorse. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I killed him," he cried, a waver in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +Hank looked up quickly, his lips moving. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" he asked shortly. +</P> + +<P> +"I killed him," declared Joe again, almost plaintively. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, so you did, young 'un, and a mighty fine shot it war. But you +ain't going to tell me that you're sorry? In course in a way one is +sorry when one wipes a critter out, but——" +</P> + +<P> +"It's awful!" groaned Joe, huge depression upon him. +</P> + +<P> +Hank scrambled to his feet, dragged our hero to his, and took him away +from the wall where the moon's rays fell brightly upon both of them. +</P> + +<P> +"See here," he cried angrily, though those who knew the little man best +would have declared that his anger was artificial, "see here, young +feller; am I less valuable to you than that 'ere cuss? Eh? You ain't +got an answer. You don't seem to reckon that ef you wasn't to shoot, +the critter would come right in and kill me or you. Ef it's like that, +and you value him higher, why, I'm for moving." +</P> + +<P> +Very slowly he began to clamber on to the top of the wall. He dropped +his legs over to the far side, and seemed to be in the act of departing +from the fort. Then Joe came to his senses; he caught the little +trapper by the fringed sleeve and dragged him back. Indeed, using his +strength and height, he gripped the little man and lifted him bodily. +He was smiling when Hank at length broke free. +</P> + +<P> +"It's over," he said; "I'm sorry." +</P> + +<P> +"No harm done, lad," came the hearty answer. "No one was ever the wuss +for havin' a soft heart. But this here aer war, war to the knife, and, +what's more, that aer Hurley. Would a skunk same as him leave us alive +ef the call was with him? Huh!" +</P> + +<P> +That was the most expressive sound he could make. It betokened the +utmost scorn; it showed Hank when most emphatic. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer Hurley, fer sure," he declared. "But why? Aer he mad?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not mad, but hoping to make something out of us or out of me," said +Joe. "At least that is the idea I have, though it seems to be stupid, +and there is no apparent reason for my saying so. But what does it +matter what the cause of the attack may be? It's Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +"Dead sartin—the skunk!" growled Hank. +</P> + +<P> +"And he means business." +</P> + +<P> +"He aer goin' to wipe the hull lot of us out ef he's able. But he aer +come up agin a crowd that's got its dander up, so I tells him. He aer +yet to larn what backwoods chaps and others kin do. Next time I makes +a particular point o' puttin' my sights on him, and ef I get the +chance, I'll roll him over. Let's see what they're doing." +</P> + +<P> +For the next ten minutes the trio sat on the summit of the wall in the +full glare of the moonlight, for there was now no object in +concealment, and watched the enemy. They had retired as far as their +sleighs, and it looked for a little while as if they were about to +mount and drive away. But the burly figure of the rascal who led +them—now admittedly Hurley, the murderer, the escaped +criminal—tramped up and down near them, and though only a faint +whisper of his voice could be heard every now and again, when the wind +bore it in the direction of the island, it was perfectly evident that +he was again using all his persuasive eloquence to induce his followers +to repeat the attack. They saw him swing round more than once and +point towards the fort. They watched as the enemy actually advanced +again; but a shot from Hank surging between them seemed to put their +courage to flight, for they went again to the sledges. Then there was +a different scene. +</P> + +<P> +"Threatening them," remarked Joe. "Hurley is shaking his fist at us, +and pointing his gun at his own people. I begin to believe that we +shall win out all right. Say, Hank, how many men can go on a sleigh as +a rule?" +</P> + +<P> +"Depends on the teams, lad. Some'll have only a small team, and then +one man are a load; some'll take four, same as those, and move sharpish +over the snow. Then agin, it depends a heap on the ground. Ef it's +smooth and level, the work aer easy; ef there's a hill, folks has to +dismount; and ef there's a thaw—shucks! you can't get along nohow." +</P> + +<P> +"But just now, after the 'silver thaw' we've had, the snow is +beautifully hard, and if those beggars went the opposite way, the way +we'd go if we were making back towards the Fennicks, they'd move." +</P> + +<P> +"Fly," came crisply from the hunter. "It aer a trifle downhill, and +since this keen frost set in, the snow aer hard and smooth. Yes, +they'd fly. But don't you reckon on that; Hurley'll work them +half-breeds up to attack again. They'll wait perhaps till morning, or +till it's darker. It'll be that any time now, and I ain't so certain +that we ain't in for a little snow. It won't be much, anyway, for +there's only a few clouds about; but the wind's got up a little, and +clouds have come into sight that wasn't there when we came to the +island." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" Joe gave vent to the short expression in such a tone of voice +that Hank stared at him. It was just as if he had said "Thanks +awfully; you've just given me the information I wanted." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" demanded the hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," answered Joe briskly. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't goin' to flummox me! You was thinkin' something jest then; +you're up to some game and ain't let on yet." +</P> + +<P> +The little fellow was gifted with wonderful intelligence, and picked up +Joe's unspoken thoughts with the same intuition with which he would +have ferreted out the tracks of an enemy, or guessed at their possible +movements. He shook Joe angrily, staring into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"What aer it?" he demanded. "This ain't the time for playing games. +But I guess you've something at the back of that head of yours. Now, +I've caught you out—-what's the move?" +</P> + +<P> +Joe told him in a very few words; for he had of a sudden come to the +determination to move against the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to do a little bit of scouting, Hank," he said. "I'm going +across to their camp to see what's happening. What I want to know is +this: will those dogs they have set up a racket and fly at me?" +</P> + +<P> +"You bet! In course they will. Only there's snow everywhere now, and +ef you're careful—and I've larned ye to be—then you'd be able to +manage without rousing the critters." +</P> + +<P> +"And if I took a hunk of meat with me I might manage to quiet them in +any case, eh?" asked our hero. +</P> + +<P> +"Might, mightn't; can't say. Jest a toss up—what then?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's telling," smiled Joe. "But you and Beaver Jack be ready. If +you see a sleigh coming along quick, with one man aboard it, put it +down that it's me. I'm going to make a move to get possession of one +of them, and once I have got it, why, we'll make tracks for the +Fennicks." +</P> + +<P> +The little hunter regarded his pupil in open-mouthed amazement. He +stepped a pace away, held Joe at arm's length, then brought one hand +with a bang down on to his shoulder; only, as this young friend of his +had grown so prodigiously of late, Hank had to stand on tiptoe. +</P> + +<P> +"Of all the mad ideas that ever was, this is it!" he cried. "But it +aer fine, and I'll say more, it aer the only way to pull us out of this +business, mad though it does appear. Ef you hadn't wanted to go, I'd +have gone. But you suggested, and so you shall make the attempt. And +ef they spot you, jest run for your life out on to the lake. Beaver +Jack and me'll follow you across and build up a bit of a breastwork +close by the shore. That'll give us a sorter place to hold 'em from, +and there you could join us. If you succeed, why, off we goes, in +course; and, now that I thinks of it more, ef you ain't too proud, I'd +like to come with you. Why? I'll tell you. The dogs are bound to be +a bother. You ain't never handled the critters, while I have, many a +time, and dogs, like hosses, soon gets to know when they're dealing +with a green 'un. How's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Agreed!" cried Joe, delighted to have a companion. "Ask Jack what he +thinks of the affair." +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later there was quite a stir amongst the garrison of the +island, for the enemy had disappeared, having returned downheartened to +their own encampment. Beaver Jack and Joe were bearing along between +them the light sleigh upon which the Redskin's pelts were stacked, and +on which their own traps would find a place. They lifted it to the top +of the wall they had built and, leaping to the outside, lowered it +carefully. Hank then handed down rifles and ammunition, the former of +which they slung over their shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"If the wust comes to the wust, we makes back here agin," he said. "It +aer been a proper tight little island; now we kin move. Them clouds +has smothered the moon nicely, and it aer snowing enough to hide a man +at fifty yards. Guess we'll cross, throw up a wall of snow, making a +sorter nest in case we want it, and then get away on to the camp them +half-breeds is occupying." +</P> + +<P> +He took the end of the tow-rope, while Beaver Jack went immediately +behind him. Joe fell in in rear, and in that order they strode on +across the snow towards the shore which harboured the enemy. They +halted once to listen, for a dog had yelped. But as the sound was not +repeated, they pressed on again, and were soon at the point where ice +and solid earth met beneath the all-pervading mantle of snow. +</P> + +<P> +"This'll do," said Hank shortly. "Slip off yer snowshoes and rake the +snow up from a central point; that'll leave a deep little hole to +shelter us. See here, Beaver Jack, you keep a bright eye open for us. +Ef we comes bowling along on a sleigh, get a hold of that sleigh rope +of yours, leap aboard us, and make fast. Ef we comes runnin' out, jest +see that you shoot at them critters who'll be follerin' and not at us." +</P> + +<P> +That was his farewell to the Redskin. He and Joe helped to erect the +wall of snow, and then, leaving Beaver Jack to complete the task, +strode on again towards the camp which they had vacated for the benefit +of the enemy. Under one arm the little hunter carried a ball of snow, +which seemed somewhat curious and unnecessary, especially considering +the fact that the ground was thickly covered with the same material. +But within the snow there was something of greater value. +</P> + +<P> +"It's that chunk o' meat," Hank had explained, when he first produced +his burden. "I set it over the fire till it was wellnigh cooked and +the frost driven out of it altogether. Then I cut it into pieces, +packed them close in a piece of skin from one o' the beasts we shot, +and wrapped the whole again in snow, which'll help to keep the heat in +and the cold out. Sounds rummy, don't it? But it'll work handsome." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, young chap," he whispered, when he and our hero had parted from +the Redskin and were within three hundred yards of the enemy, "we've +got to decide how we'll work this business. How's it to be?" +</P> + +<P> +"You take the dogs," said Joe at once. "I'll tackle Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but you ain't going to kick up a rumpus with him, surely!" +exclaimed Hank, sinking his voice till it was almost inaudible, and +almost hissing the words. "It aer the sleigh we want, two of 'em ef we +could manage it, though that ain't possible. Ef we get away with one, +only four of the critters can follow, and what's four after so many? +You ain't after Hurley?" +</P> + +<P> +He was answered by a vigorous shake of the head. "No, I don't want any +struggle; I wouldn't shoot the fellow if I had the opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't ye? Then I would, me lad. It aer human nature to look to +number one fust. When a man murders, and aer wanted by the hangman, +when he begins trying his best to murder others, then's the time fer +him to go under. Hurley has my bullet fust time I kin look straight +along the barrel. But what aer you after?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know. I want to see what he's doing. I want to find out if +he has that envelope he stole from me so many months ago now." +</P> + +<P> +Hank's head shot up quickly. He was a man with such a vast experience +of life, and had encountered so many strange happenings, that he was +not inclined to think a thing impossible till he had proved it to be +so. There was that envelope, to be sure. Joe had often spoken about +it. He had told Hank the whole story, how there was something within +the envelope which he could have read had he chosen, though against his +dead father's wishes. The contents, in fact, were for perusal only +when he had made good, when he had fought his own battles. And Hank +had been impressed by the recital. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a queer story," he had said in his quiet little way, "and I +'low as the temptation to open that envelope must have been great. But +your dad war right. Supposing the letter told you of dollars to be had +for the axing, what would have happened? You'd have stayed back there +in England. You'd have lived on the best of the land and become fat +and lousy. You wouldn't have had half the fun out of life, for the +struggle to make good aer fun to everyone who's got spirit and pride. +'Sides, there's something wuss. This here Hank wouldn't have made your +acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +"Supposing that letter had had something to do with monetary affairs?" +The little hunter came to a halt promptly and stared before him. He +would have whistled but for the proximity of the enemy. Instead, he +turned on Joe, and with the snowflakes falling about them gripped him +firmly by the sleeve. "By Jingo," he whispered, "I believe you've got +it! That there Hurley stole the letter. When he was captured he hid +it up, for he'd had time to take a look at it. Perhaps he forgot to +hide the dollar notes. But in any case, he put the letter away in some +safe place, perhaps in the shack close to that lake where he went into +hiding. He'd larned that there was gain to be made by it, ef only he +could get clear of the law. Wall, he slipped off. Those police let +him out of their fingers. He went back for the letter, and then, +because you've something to do with it, as of course is sartin, he sets +out to find and wipe you out. Huh! It's all in a nutshell. You ain't +wanted, young chap. Soon as you're wiped out, Hurley comes in for +something that's waiting." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was native sagacity again, a strange mixture of intuition +and intelligence, which helped the little hunter. Perhaps also, taking +every point into consideration, it was the most reasonable solution to +come to. Be that as it may, Hank at one effort had fathomed the +mystery of this unprovoked attack, and at the same time had discovered +that Joe was most probably rather an important person. +</P> + +<P> +"But you ain't got the dollars yet, not by a long way," he cautioned. +"We ain't got out of this muss, and Hurley'll do his best to hold us. +Now, lad, you aer after that envelope. Wall, see here. Ef it's to be +had easy, take it; ef not, leave the thing till another time. For ef +we clear out of this with our scalps we'll ride for the nearest fort +garrisoned by the North-west Police, or some station where there's +Ontario Police quartered. We'll inform about Hurley, and we'll lead a +party along till the rascal's taken. Life, I guess, aer more valuable +than a letter; so bear that in mind, and hold off ef there's danger." +</P> + +<P> +With their plans thus arranged, the two crept forward, and were soon +within some fifty yards of the camp. Through the falling snowflakes +they could see the large lean-to in which the half-breeds were +sleeping, for the band of desperadoes had thrown themselves down +immediately on returning. The fire at the entrance burned low, and the +light it gave out was feeble. But more issued from a second, blazing +some yards to the left, and illuminating the interior of the other +lean-to. +</P> + +<P> +"The men!" whispered Hank, pointing to the first. "That 'ere critter +yonder! It aer up to us now to locate the dogs. H-hish! Here's one +o' them coming." +</P> + +<P> +Joe saw him tear his bundle asunder and extract a piece of flesh. At +the same moment he became aware of the fact that a huge beast was +slowly crawling toward them. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it actually a dog? No. Yes; that was certain. Then would it +suddenly give tongue and fling itself upon them?" +</P> + +<P> +"H-h-hish!" said Hank, making a curious little clicking sound with his +tongue. "He's smelt the meat; ef only he'll be quiet, we'll soon have +the others." +</P> + +<P> +A low, almost inaudible growl came from the brute advancing on them. +Even in that light Joe could see that its coat was bristling. It was +slinking toward them now on half-bent legs, looking as if it would make +a sudden spring when within easy reach of them. The position of the +two might be described, in fact, as more than a trifle embarrassing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XIX +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Across the Snows for Safety +</P> + +<P> +"Hist! Hist! Here, good dog!" Hank called gently to the huge brute +slinking towards himself and Joe, as they lay outside the winter +bivouacs of Hurley and his men, and held forward a tempting morsel of +flesh. Even our hero could scent the pleasing aroma from the morsel; +for the little hunter had so contrived with his covering of snow that +there was considerable warmth in it yet, while the frosty air seemed to +accentuate the aroma. But it was a toss up as to whether the beast +would suddenly give tongue or would slink still nearer and accept the +proffered dainty. +</P> + +<P> +"Good dog!" called Hank again. "Here's summat for yer." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps his soothing voice had something to do with the matter. It may +have been even that the brute realized, as dumb brutes do, that he was +face to face with one well acquainted with his brethren. Suffice it to +say that his bristles subsided and he sidled up, wagging his tail, his +nose snuffing at the morsel. Hank patted him at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's more o' that," he said. "Lie down! Now, where aer the others? +It aer more'n likely that they've gone in with the men, and ef that's +the case it'll be a job to get 'em out, to say nothing of puttin' the +harness on 'em. See here, lad; I'll stay with this brute, so's to +quiet the others ef they come out. You creep in a bit closer and scout +around; I ain't yet quite sure how things aer. Take a piece of the +meat with you, and ef a dog runs out, jest pitch it towards him." +</P> + +<P> +It may be imagined that Joe needed no further orders. He was on hands +and knees at once, and began to creep towards the lean-to. In a little +while he was within a dozen feet, and, wriggling his way into a +position of advantage, he was soon able to look right in, the firelight +helping him greatly. A jumbled heap of bodies, legs, and arms met his +eyes, with the sleeping forms of dogs inextricably mixed up with them. +He saw, in fact, a typical residence of the half-breed. These men, of +a degenerate class themselves, and careless of everything so long as +their own comfort was assured, had turned into their lean-to without +removing so much as a garment, which is not to be wondered at, +considering the cold, and, throwing themselves down higgledy-piggledy, +had called to the dogs, who had promptly accepted the invitation, and, +thrusting their way into any odd corner and the most comfortable nooks, +had settled themselves down to sleep till the call of a new day aroused +them. But there was something more which attracted Joe's attention. +There seemed to be so few dogs, perhaps half a dozen in all, while each +of the sleigh teams mustered nine or ten. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't swear to the number," he told himself, "but there are not two +teams here, of that I am certain. Where, then, are the others?" +</P> + +<P> +Looking to right and to left gave him no help. It was clear that he +must search for them elsewhere, so promptly he crept away in the +direction of the second lean-to. It happened, too, that his path took +him to the end of this farthest removed from the spot where the fire +was blazing. Indeed, it was only native caution which caused him to +make for that end; for had he crawled towards the fire, its bright +flames would have betrayed his presence instantly to anyone happening +to look out. Hurley, he knew, was a suspicious, restless individual, +so that the merest whimper from one of the dogs, even a rustling of the +snow, might bring him into the open. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give him no chance to spoil our plans," said Joe, kneeling up to +take a good look about him. "First thing is to take a squint into the +lean-to. There's a light somewhere inside, I fancy, so perhaps Hurley +is sitting up and making plans for the next attack. Hope he ain't, +though; I'd rather he were asleep, worn out by all that's happened." +</P> + +<P> +Crawling along on hands and knees, it was a little time before he came +to the lean-to. A glance over his shoulder now told him that Hank had +come a trifle closer, and still had the dog beside him. Knowing, +therefore, that he had someone to give him a warning should the +half-breeds suddenly emerge, Joe very gently separated two strips of +birch bark which closed in a portion of this Canadian dwelling. Then +he applied his eye to the aperture, only to find that he was staring +right across to the far side of the lean-to, and that neither Hurley +nor anyone else was within his vision. There was a roll of flaming +bark within two feet, however, spluttering and smoking gently. +</P> + +<P> +"No good here," he thought. "Must try the other side, and a trifle +lower down. Hallo—dogs! George—they're lying just outside this +shanty!" +</P> + +<P> +Joe had risen to his feet now, though still stooping, and as he peered +over the far end of the flimsy erection he caught sight of quite a +number of dogs stretched within easy distance of the fire, huddled into +one close body, and all fast asleep. After all, there was nothing +remarkable in that, or of sufficient importance to cause his +exclamations, save, of course, their proximity to himself. For these +dogs, bred in the Arctic zone almost, and in any case upon its fringe, +can stand a degree of cold which would rapidly kill a human being. +Warmth they like, just as do most animals, but they can resist a +Canadian winter in remarkable manner, and are capable of sleeping in +the open. In any case, there they were, bundled together, sleeping +deeply, no doubt tired after a hard day with the sleigh. +</P> + +<P> +"But they'll rouse any time," Joe told himself. "If there weren't snow +about to deaden my steps, they'd have kicked up a row already, unless, +of course, they take me for one of their masters." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps that was the reason of their tranquillity. Satisfied that they +had not detected him yet, Joe crept round to the far side of the +lean-to and, boring another aperture, peered in. And on this occasion +his efforts won a greater reward; for Hurley lay before him. His bulky +form was stretched full length on one of the sleighs, his face turned +away from the light; a rifle was propped beside him, while close +against the sleigh was that same wooden box which we have already +described. For the rest, there was nothing more to comment on. +Travellers during a Canadian winter are few and far between—we speak +here of the backwoods—and such as there are carry merely necessaries, +so that a humble lean-to contains little else but the traveller. There +was Hurley, in fact, alone, and with a weapon beside him. The box was +of no consequence, though, if only Joe could have guessed that only a +few hours ago that precious document was spread out on it, it is likely +enough that he would have shown more excitement. But there was no sign +of the envelope. Doubtless the sleeping Hurley had it in an inner +pocket. Joe bore in mind Hank's warning, and promptly used all his +wits to bring about an escape from the ruffian. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't bother about the document or letter," he told himself. "We'll +tackle the man; but how, is the question? It's clear that he has +hauled the sleigh in to make a bed, leaving the dogs still attached to +it. That would be fine for us, if it weren't for the fact that Hurley +has fallen asleep on it. Then there's the gun; fancy I can reach that, +anyway." +</P> + +<P> +He stretched the opening a little wider, stood well above it, and +reached in. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't!" he told himself, with an exclamation of vexation. "Try again." +</P> + +<A NAME="p343"></A> + +<P> +This time the roof of the lean-to bent inward as he pressed upon it, +then his fingers hit upon the muzzle of the weapon. Joe gripped it +firmly, drew gently on it, and slowly extracted the gun through the +opening. +</P> + +<P> +"Makes things easier a whole heap. When he wakes he'll have to look +about for another weapon, unless he's got——" He pulled at the +opening and again stared in at the sleeper. "No sign of a shooter. +Hooray! Things begin to look a little better. I'll get hold of Hank +and have a chat with him." +</P> + +<P> +Within three minutes the two had retired a little and were discussing +matters in voices raised hardly above a whisper. Hank kneeled on the +snow, one arm about the dog he had coaxed into friendship, and who +seemed to have taken a huge fancy to him. The little man listened +carefully to our hero's description, and made no comment for a few +moments; then, of a sudden, a gurgling laugh came from some point deep +down in his throat. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef we don't win out I ain't Hank," he smiled. "Now, jest listen. +This aer the movement; Jimmy here—that's this dog, and I christened +him Jimmy 'cos that's the name of a beast I had once when huntin' in +the backwoods—Jimmy goes along up to his friends sleeping outside the +lean-to and wakes 'em. He lets 'em understand that things are right, +and that there's a new friend come to the camp. You needn't look as ef +you didn't believe it could be, young chap. You've got to remember +that there's a moon. Ef it were pitch dark it would be different, for +then the dogs couldn't see us. A beast barks at any sound on a dark +night, while with a moon, ef he kin see right off what's caused the +ruction, he don't always give tongue. Anyway, we try the plan. Ef it +fails, we'll have to make a rush at the brutes, put 'em into line, and +drive 'em. But here's the rest of the scheme. This is your part." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah! What? I'm ready." +</P> + +<P> +"In course you aer; couldn't I tell that from what you've done this +last five minutes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Joe impatiently, "you look to the dogs. That's right, for +you know a heap about them. What do I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Settle Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Kill him? I——" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't need to be thin-skinned, young chap. This ain't a time fer +killing; I'll do that fast enough ef it comes to a tussle between us. +What you've got to do is to rouse him off the sleigh, and then smother +him so's he can't get clear of the lean-to till we've got aboard and +has set the dogs going. Jest sling that 'ere rifle into the bushes +here. Gently with it. Now you ain't bothered with extry weight. You +comes with me to the place agin and watches while I get in amongst the +dogs. Ef there's a noise, and Hurley rouses, bash the lean-to down on +top of his head, jump on it, send the sticks and the snow about him, +then leap on the sleigh and look out fer fireworks." +</P> + +<P> +Joe grinned; he couldn't help doing so, in spite of the danger of the +situation. "If there's not a row?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef there's not a ruction with them dogs and the other men, and things +go nice and smooth and easy, I'll lift my hand when I'm ready. Then +you get a grip of that thar Hurley, bash him over the head ef you like +with your open hand, and, as he rises, bring the whole shanty down on +him—eh? You're there, ain't you? It aer a clear and straightforward +plan." +</P> + +<P> +"Got it," answered Joe promptly, moistening his lips, and tingling with +excitement and anticipation. "Do we start now?" +</P> + +<P> +"This very instant. But supposin' Hurley suddenly rouses as soon as we +get close, and afore you kin bring the shack down on him——" +</P> + +<P> +"Leave that to me," answered Joe tersely. "I've had one innings with +the ruffian already." +</P> + +<P> +There never were two who understood each other so well and so easily as +did Hank and our hero. Their discussion had taken them but a few bare +seconds, and now they were creeping back. Joe halted when close beside +the lean-to, while the little hunter sat down on his knees and +whispered to the dog Jimmy. The hound seemed to have gathered his +meaning too as rapidly as had Joe, for he went slinking forward and lay +down beside his comrades. As might have been expected, his coming +caused many of the beasts to open their eyes, though they did not offer +to move. But Hank was watching eagerly, and a second later a morsel of +flesh flew across, landing close to Jimmy. Others followed, and in an +incredibly short space of time the dogs were all aroused and standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest watch fer the signal," whispered the hunter. "I'm agoin' to put +'em into their harness." +</P> + +<P> +It was just at that moment that Joe heard a movement within the +lean-to, and promptly applied his eye to the opening he had made. +Hurley had turned over, and was now blinking at the spluttering torch, +while one arm was spread out over the box. Something seemed to have +alarmed him, for he sat up, giving the box a kick, which Hank heard; +then he got to his feet swiftly and, bending low, stepped toward the +opening, just outside which blazed the fire, and just beyond which Hank +was mustering the team of dogs. Hurley saw him; for the instant he +took him to be one of his own following, then he became suspicious. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that?" he called. "Hi! Someone is tampering with the dogs." +</P> + +<P> +Joe did not venture to wait longer. He leaped on to the top of the +lean-to, the flimsy thing breaking down beneath his weight at once; he +trod upon the wretch beneath, sending him tumbling to the ground; then +he stood ready for the next movement. It came with startling +suddenness. Hank had found a whip close to the dogs, and sent it +cracking over the team. The brutes sprang forward the next instant, +and in spite of the fact that Hurley had tumbled across the sleigh, +they brought it out from beneath the smashed lean-to with a jerk which +tossed snow and sticks aside, and sent the rascally leader of this band +of cut-throats rolling backward from the end. Hank seemed to fly to +his position at the fore end. Joe fell across the sleigh as it flashed +past him, scrambled aboard, and found himself gripping the sides +closely; for a sleigh is no easy thing to ride when a strong team pulls +it at fast pace across ground which is broken. It jolts and sways +abominably, while often enough it will glissade, just like a petrol car +rounding a sharp and greasy corner. +</P> + +<P> +"Hold tight," shouted Hank, "and get yer shootin' iron ready for 'em! +When we comes up to Beaver Jack, I'll hand the reins over to him. +You'll take the centre place, while I'll nip in at the back, so as to +be ready to shoot that 'ere Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +Not a word passed between the two from that moment until they reached +the spot where Beaver Jack was waiting for them. Swinging along at a +glorious pace, and swerving and rolling, sometimes dangerously, they +finally dashed up to the heap of snow behind which the Redskin had +taken shelter. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Jack, you take them dogs," said Hank quickly. "Give me a hold of +the rope tied on to your sleigh. There! It's fast to this; you kin +move off when you're ready." +</P> + +<P> +"But——" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked the hunter somewhat curtly, interrupting Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Why let the dogs haul two sleighs? Cut Beaver Jack's pelts adrift and +tie 'em here. We can do it as we go. Our traps can be served in the +same way. It isn't the weight that'll tell so much as the amount of +ground our runners cover. A sleigh towing behind will hold the dogs +more than the load on it will do when added to this sleigh." +</P> + +<P> +"Shucks! You aer got the best head of the three of us," cried Hank. +"You git in at them dogs, Beaver Jack. Me and Joe'll fix the kit while +we're moving." +</P> + +<P> +Away went the lash of the whip cracking over the leaders. Beaver Jack +handled the team as a man does who has had great practice. Anyone +could have said that from merely observing his manner of wielding the +whip, for the short-handled, long-lashed dog whip employed in the north +of Canada is apt to be more dangerous to the amateur wielder than to +the dogs. It requires an amount of practice to control it; and as it +twirled and cracked, and leaped backwards and forwards, now over the +dogs, and then above the heads of Hank and Joe, there was proof +positive of Beaver Jack's previous acquaintance with it. Meanwhile, +Hank had drawn up the smaller sleigh alongside, and he and Joe rapidly +transferred its load to the large one on which they themselves sat, +lashing every article into position. +</P> + +<P> +At the enemy's camp there was now huge commotion. At first the +confusion had been so great that no one could guess what had happened. +Even Hurley himself had little more than an inkling, and it took him a +few seconds to pick himself up and free himself of the snow and debris +of the lean-to with which he had been covered. Then shouts of rage and +fierce orders burst from his lips; in his anger he dashed hither and +thither, shouting at his men, and even striking those who seemed to be +dawdling. +</P> + +<P> +"Put the other team into the sleigh, quick!" he commanded. "One of you +help here to find my rifle. Those men have made a sneaking night +attack, and will get clear off if we don't move quick. Here, look for +my rifle, I say. How in thunder did it get outside the lean-to?" +</P> + +<P> +There were quite a number of little matters which he was likely to find +difficult of explanation. But the gun was found eventually where Joe +had placed it, while the second team of dogs were got into their +harness. Then Hurley pressed two of the boldest of his followers into +this special service, and putting them aboard the remaining sleigh, +leaped there himself, and ordered the driver to set off in pursuit of +our hero and his friends. +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack never hesitated as to the course he ought to pursue once +his fingers closed on the reins Hank tossed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Clear back for the settlements," the little hunter had said, and the +Redskin obeyed him to the letter. He steered his team over a portion +of the lake, set them at the bank where it shelved very gradually to +the ice, and, gaining a hollow, aimed directly for a huge patch of +forest distinguishable with the aid of the moon's rays in the far +distance. +</P> + +<P> +"He war born cute, he war," grunted Hank, some minutes later, when all +the loads were secured, and he and Joe had time and opportunity to look +about them. "Beaver Jack never stirs a foot, but he watches everything +about him, and I reckon that he knows nigh every foot of the country; +knows it, too, whether it's fine weather or ef there's snow about and +landmarks is wiped out altogether. He aer steering downhill, knowing +as the big lake back behind drains along the valley to another, and +that again to a third. It means quick travelling all the way, and ef +we're to shake off them critters it'll be before we reaches the third +lake. Ah! Guess that's Hurley. It's a pity it's stopped snowing." +</P> + +<P> +It was necessary to cling to the sleigh tightly, for the going was fast +and furious. There was no time to watch for obstacles ahead, while the +snow covered the land so completely that deep brooks crossing their +line of flight were not seen till they were on to them, and then there +was a mighty shaking. The dogs, spurred on by the cracking whip, +leaped across the hollow. The sleigh bumped across with a great +jolting which tossed those aboard it to either side; but still they +clung tight, while the little hunter, seeing that a sleigh was +following, nimbly turned about, spread himself face downward on the top +of the sleigh, and placed his rifle before him. +</P> + +<P> +"You jest take and sit on my legs, Joe," he called; "then ef there's a +bad jolt I'll still be here. It won't make no difference to my +shootin', and it's likely to save delay. Ef I was to roll over you'd +have to stop, and that'd be serious." +</P> + +<P> +Joe promptly did as he was asked, tucking the legs of the little hunter +beneath him, and placing a blanket across them before he sat down. He +could then afford to turn his own head and watch the enemy. Away +behind them, tearing along at reckless speed, and at such a rate that a +cloud of white was thrown up in front of each runner for all the world +as if the sleigh were a ship at sea, Hurley and his comrades came +chasing after the trio they had fondly hoped to kill. A figure +crouched just behind the dogs, and the frosty air brought the sound of +his shouts and the crack of the dog whip he wielded. A second figure +was bundled up behind him, the face of the man on the shoulder of the +driver, while a pair of staring eyes peered at the sleigh ahead. +Hurley sat right aft, his bulky form overlapping the sides of the +sleigh, his head and shoulders well above his comrades. The moon, +playing upon the scene, showed a rod projecting upward from a point +just in front of the murderer, and at once Joe knew it was a rifle. He +saw the ruffian lean forward and shout at his men, and then watched as +he rose still higher—evidently he was half-kneeling and +half-sitting—his weapon was lifted into a horizontal position and went +to his shoulder. It was clear, in fact, that Hurley was about to fire. +</P> + +<P> +"Best get down flat, every one of us," cried Hank, in warning tones. +"Beaver Jack, you lie flat same as me, facing forward. You'll still be +able to steer, and kin use the whip ef it's wanted. Then Joe kin +stretch hisself out on top of the two of us. It'll be a cramping +business, but it aer better'n bein' shot." +</P> + +<P> +Such gymnastic efforts upon a sleigh rocking from side to side was no +easy matter. But when there is a man within reasonable distance whose +rifle is presented, and any moment may bring a bullet, the most +difficult of evolutions are carried out with wonderful rapidity. In +this case, Beaver Jack swivelled himself round with a dexterity there +was no denying. Then Joe turned entirely, for he wished to have his +eyes behind him all the while and watch Hurley. A second or so later +he was also lying flat, his weight helping to hold the Redskin to the +sleigh, while he gripped Hank now by the ankles. But he was hardly in +position when a puff of smoke burst from the rifle held by the burly +figure at the back of the pursuing sleigh, there was a dull flash, then +a bullet screamed past the heads of Hank and his friends. The reply to +this was sent without delay by the little hunter. +</P> + +<P> +"Missed!" he grunted. "Shootin' at a moving object ain't never too +easy with a rifle, but when the consarn you're fixed on is movin' +itself as well, why, a hit aer often a chance. Guess Hurley ha' got +his eye in." +</P> + +<P> +It was a cold-blooded observation, hardly likely to encourage either. +But the grin on Hank's face showed that he himself was not greatly +concerned by the close approach of a second bullet which Hurley had +fired. For Joe, one can only say that he watched the duel fascinated, +fear for his own person lost in his interest. Once again he saw +Hurley's rifle lifted, saw the smoke belch from the muzzle, and then +heard—almost felt, one might say, without exaggeration—the passage of +the bullet. +</P> + +<P> +Hank chuckled. "This here lyin'-down position bothers him fine," he +cried. "He aer got to drop his muzzle a whole heap before he hits us. +But I'm not the one to give chances; I'm going to pick off that Hurley." +</P> + +<P> +Up went his own rifle, for Hank leaned on one elbow. He took a long +and careful aim and then pulled his trigger; but the result was not +what he had anticipated. As he himself had said, shooting was +extremely difficult under such circumstances, for the sleigh swayed and +jolted horribly. But the bullet missed the ruffian at whom it was +aimed only because there was another man in front of him. Of a sudden +the driver of the pursuing sleigh dropped his whip and doubled up, his +chin on his chest. Then he swayed a little, and, as if with a mighty +effort, gathered all his strength and threw himself backward, pulling +on the reins and bringing his team to a standstill. But it was his +last action. He toppled over to the left and fell into the snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Wrong man; sorry," Hank jerked out grimly. "Hurley'll have it next +time. I'll wait a bit to get him closer." +</P> + +<P> +The chase after that settled down a little, Hank holding his fire, +while Hurley himself copied the example of the little hunter and spread +himself out flat on his sleigh, his new driver also. But this was +apparent, with a lighter load the enemy were getting nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"Ef that's the case, we'll make a stop precious soon," said Hank. +"What say, Joe?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm with you. We're three now to their two, and if we could face +eight of them some little while ago, surely we could——" +</P> + +<P> +His argument came to an abrupt ending at that moment, for a wide ditch +with vertical banks carved out by nature crossed their path, and the +snow hid it from view. It was more than likely that the snow had +formed a species of bridge over this deep hollow; but, in any case, it +broke down as the last of the team of dogs crossed, causing the front +end of the sleigh to dip suddenly. The runners cannoned against the +iron-hard banks, and in a twinkling sleigh and men went flying. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely we could face those two," gasped Joe, as if continuing the +sentence where circumstances had caused it to be so abruptly broken, +and at the same time picking himself up from the bank of snow into +which he had been thrown. "Here's fine cover. This ditch will hide us +completely." +</P> + +<P> +He threw himself down into the deep hollow at once, and found that he +had quite a high bank before him, over which he had to lift his head to +see the enemy. Hurley marked the occasion by firing at him, and his +bullet swished past within an inch, causing Joe to duck suddenly. As +for Hank, the sudden upset seemed to have caused him vast amusement, +and certainly he wasn't in the smallest degree hurt, though, being at +the rear of the sleigh, he had been thrown over the heads of his +comrades and had come down sprawling amongst the dogs. He picked up +himself and his weapon instantly and crept to Joe's side, still +grinning widely, while Beaver Jack, undisturbed by the upset, his +gravity of demeanour and his native dignity not in the least degree +ruffled, coolly turned the sleigh the right way up, dragged it +backward, and called hoarsely to the dogs to lie down. +</P> + +<P> +"We war jest meant to stop and have it out with them critters," said +Hank, when he had shaken the snow out of his eyes and mouth. "Gee! +that war a tumble. Lucky fer us there's soft snow. Ef it had been on +bare ice, there's some of us would have had cracked heads. Ha! Hurley +ha' thought better of coming along towards us. Guess this business is +gettin' a little more serious than he wanted. Yer see, he had jest +three at fust, three as didn't know he was following. Now he's got the +same three, and only one to help him agin them. You sit low, lad; +bullets has a way of striking jest when they ain't expected." +</P> + +<P> +His own head went down of a sudden, while a bullet buzzed above them. +Evidently it must have gone extremely near to the Redskin, who was then +crawling towards them, for Beaver Jack's impassive face broke into a +smile. His sensitive lips actually curled, those deep-set, penetrating +eyes twinkled, while his curious chin went up and seemed almost to +embrace the tip of the hooked nose. +</P> + +<P> +"None the wuss if you ain't hit, mate," laughed Hank. "Joe, how do yer +like bullets flyin' close beside you?" +</P> + +<P> +To look at our hero it was an experience which he enjoyed, for he was +smiling. But it was not because of the bullets. He was smiling at the +sudden change in their fortunes, at the complete success of the special +efforts which he and Hank had made, and at the thought that, instead of +being chased by Hurley now, they might well turn the tables on him. +</P> + +<P> +"We've a duty to do," he said so sharply, that the little hunter swung +round upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh? Duty?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; there's a murderer, a criminal wanted by the law. Our duty is to +take him, so that he can do no more mischief." +</P> + +<P> +"In course," came the ready answer, "that's what we're going to do. +See here, Joe, I don't return to the settlements till we've got our man +or rubbed him out entirely. It's the same thing to me whichever +happens; only stop his game we will." +</P> + +<P> +"Right! I'm with you," cried Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Then jest look spry and don't get standin' in the way of his rifle," +grunted Hank, as he peered cautiously at the enemy. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CHAPTER XX +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +Back to the Farm +</P> + +<P> +The minutes which passed as Joe and his friends lay in the hollow into +which the upset of their sleigh had thrown them proved, as they rapidly +increased in number, that plans, however carefully made, do not always +become accomplished. It had been agreed between the little hunter and +our hero that it was their plain duty to capture Hurley; for was he not +an escaped criminal, a murderer, a brute who sought to slay them? But +try as they might to circumvent the rascal, he outwitted them. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer one of them tarnation difficulties that one don't realize till +one comes up agin them," said Hank after a while, for immediately on +their upset Hurley had caused his own team of dogs to be pulled up +short, and had himself taken advantage of a hollow. Hidden in it, he +bobbed up every now and again and sent a shot swishing over the little +party, while apparently the bullets fired by Joe and his friend had no +better effect. They were, in fact, merely wasting time. +</P> + +<P> +"Doing no harm, and just keeping us here till his men come up to join +him," ventured Joe. +</P> + +<P> +"Huh!" grunted the trapper. "But we'll see as they don't get quite up +to him, unless, of course, there's a hollow which will give them cover +all the way. Lad, this aer likely to get serious." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why not make a bolt for it?" asked Joe. "I don't mean run away +altogether," he added, as Hank flashed round upon him, "but make a rush +and draw him after us. If Beaver Jack steers so as to take us into +broken country, where there are patches of trees and undergrowth, we +could select a suitable place, stop suddenly, and then shoot as Hurley +came after us." +</P> + +<P> +Hank struck the butt of his rifle violently. "Ef that ain't a wheeze!" +he cried exultantly. "Ef he follows us—and it ain't dead sartin—but +ef he does, Beaver Jack'll manage the move for us easy. Let's see; +yes, there's trees 'way ahead—only to reach 'em we've got to run the +gauntlet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well? What matters?" asked Joe. "Better that than have all those +rascals close up to us and shooting." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll do it," exclaimed Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard this +proposition?" +</P> + +<P> +The Redskin hardly deigned to answer; instead, he swung his dogs round, +pulling them by means of the reins, till he had them lying in the +hollow itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Not do mount here," he said. "P'raps bullet hit us. But creep away +down there till we reach trees. Leave one here to fire now and again; +then, when all ready, jump on the sleigh and get away behind cover." +</P> + +<P> +He held out an attenuated hand, the fingers of which were as fine as +any lady's, and pointed to a patch of trees springing from the side of +the hollow a hundred or more yards away. The gesture and his words +were sufficient explanation of his meaning. If the sleigh were taken +there without its human load, and the feat could be accomplished +without Hurley seeing, then all could mount and start away before the +murderer had become aware of their intentions. +</P> + +<P> +"It aer a cute move, and we'll work it," said Hank instantly. "Now, +Joe, which of us'll stay; you or me?" +</P> + +<P> +"My place," came the ready answer. "I suggested going, therefore I do +the work which will help us to fool Hurley. I'll give him a shot now +and again." +</P> + +<P> +Hank at once slid down into the hollow and joined Beaver Jack. Joe +watched them as they sprawled on their faces, first placing their +weapons on the sleigh; then he saw them slowly move away, the Redskin +beside his team, crawling on all-fours, talking to the dogs and keeping +them well under cover. +</P> + +<P> +Crack! crack! Zip! zip! Two bullets swished overhead, the crisp +sounds they made proving that they had been aimed at Joe and not at his +comrades. At once he bobbed up, aimed for the place where he knew +Hurley was in hiding, and fired; but he saw nothing of the enemy. This +was a duel waged between contestants who kept beneath cover, and hoped +only for a lucky chance to hit an enemy. Joe waited again, and once +more the exchange of shots was repeated. Then he turned his head, to +find that Hank and Beaver Jack had reached the trees and were waiting +for him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give 'em one more," he told himself, raising his rifle, "and then +join the others. Hallo! What's this? One of Beaver Jack's pelts. +Suit my purpose admirably." +</P> + +<P> +Two shots rang out again in the distance, and Joe's followed swiftly. +Then he placed the dark-coloured skin on the top of the bank, and +within sight of the enemy, and at once sprawled on hands and knees and +crawled along the hollow. He accomplished the distance to the +rat-a-tat-tat of rifle shots, for Hurley and his comrade had found a +mark to aim at. Then he took his place on the sleigh, on which Hank +and Beaver Jack were already seated, and which they had hauled in +behind the cover of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"Best get into position and comfortably settled afore we set out," said +the little hunter. "Gee! What a racket they're making! They ain't +spotted this business, I hope?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shooting at one of Beaver Jack's pelts," said Joe dryly. "He left it +behind. I thought he'd be able to spare it." +</P> + +<P> +"My, you'll do!" exclaimed Hank, laughing outright. "I've known young +chaps as could fight all right, but who were always mighty serious when +bullets war flying, and couldn't think of things like that. You'll do, +Joe. You aer got a sense of humour. Now, Beaver Jack, you get in at +it, and don't drive 'em too fast after the fust bust of speed. We aer +got to draw that Hurley cuss close up to us." +</P> + +<P> +Shouts of anger and disappointment greeted the party as they swung out +from behind the cover and into the open. Shots were fired in their +direction also. But Beaver Jack was a master of stratagem; he kept the +patch of cover that had already helped them so much between the sleigh +and the enemy, and Hurley, seeing that the men he desired to kill were +rapidly increasing their distance, rushed for his own sleigh, leaped +aboard, and bellowed to his driver to set the team in motion; and, +thanks to the lighter weight the pursuing sleigh bore, and in no small +degree to Beaver Jack's skill and cunning, Hurley slowly gained upon +the three men flying before him. He leaned upon his elbow, for he had +again adopted the position which Hank had first shown him, and, taking +a long and careful aim, sent a bullet flying after them. +</P> + +<P> +"Time we stopped!" cried Joe abruptly, gripping his elbow, for the +missile had struck him. Not that it was a severe wound—on the +contrary, it was little more than a graze—but even that causes pain +and rouses a man to exertion. Joe was determined to put up no longer +with Hurley's attempts upon his life and upon those of his comrades. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's stop this business right here and now," he cried hotly. +"There's a long patch of wood ahead; let's fix to pull in the team +there." +</P> + +<P> +"Good fer you, lad!" answered Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard the +order? Now, Joe lad, listen to this. I has fust shot; ef I miss, +you're welcome to try; only I somehow feel as ef this war my special +business. Here we are; now fer it." +</P> + +<P> +Beaver Jack brought the team to a halt in masterly manner, while Joe +and the hunter rolled off the sleigh. Then Hank took post close to the +edge of the wood and just in the open. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't the one to fire at a man without giving him a chance," he +said. "Ah! he's seen us; he's stopped. That was a near 'un!" +</P> + +<P> +There was a heavy thud as Hurley's bullet struck the tree beside the +hunter. Then up went Hank's weapon. He took a rapid sight, and then +flung down his rifle almost before the report had come to Joe's ears, +while the latter watched for the result of the shot with more than a +little anxiety. A little time before he would perhaps have wished +Hurley to escape injury, for Joe possessed a soft and forgiving heart. +Now, however, he had a different opinion as to his merits. It was, +therefore, with no great amount of sorrow that he saw the ruffian +suddenly throw up his arms and tumble over. +</P> + +<P> +"Wiped out clean," growled Hank. "Dead as a trapped beaver." +</P> + +<P> +There could be no doubt that that was the end of the murderer. Hank's +bullet had, in fact, killed Hurley instantaneously, and had thereby +provided a fitting punishment for the detestable crime he had +committed. As for Hurley's companion, the half-breed leaped on to the +sleigh which, like his master, he had abandoned for the moment, and +sending his whip cracking over the dogs, turned them in the opposite +direction and raced away for safety. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as he's got anything to fear from me," said Hank; "I aer done what +I promised. And now, young chap, guess there are something more for us +to look into—there aer that letter." +</P> + +<P> +It was uppermost in his mind as in our hero's, and it is not to be +wondered at that they boarded their sleigh and swung their team back +towards the dark figure lying prone in the snow behind them. But would +Hurley have the document still? Had he destroyed it? In fact, had he +ever had it, or was it possible that both Hank and Joe had conjured up +a conspiracy which had never existed? Supposing Hurley had merely +fallen upon their trace by accident, and then, learning that two of the +men who had previously helped to hound him down were of the party, had +endeavoured to slay them? +</P> + +<P> +Those were the fears and the questions which raced through their minds +as Beaver Jack sent the dogs straining across the snow towards the body +of their enemy. They found him lying face downwards, a crimson stain +spoiling the beautiful white of Nature's own making. +</P> + +<P> +"Search him," said Joe, turning his head away from such a gruesome +sight. "Search him, then let us go." +</P> + +<P> +"Got it! Huh! I said so, didn't I?" +</P> + +<P> +Hank's face was radiant. He held aloft a long envelope, stained with +much handling, and then, having run through all of Hurley's pockets, he +dragged the document from the envelope and coolly perused it. Joe +himself had now no qualms as to reading it also. +</P> + +<P> +"You are on the high road to 'making good'," said Hank. "There ain't +no reason now in waiting longer. Read! It aer as clear as daylight +that Hurley had made up his mind to wipe you out and then to make for +England with the idea of passing himself off as your father." +</P> + +<P> +When they were able to gather all the details, this, indeed, proved to +be the crux of the whole conspiracy, and the death of Hurley had alone +put an end to it. It is not for us to raise doubts here as to his +prospects. Doubtless there was many a slip which he might have made, +for criminals are ever careless; but matters were decidedly in his +favour. That receipt, still within the envelope, would obtain for him +all the proofs of Mr. Bradley's birth and life and parentage. The +signature, doubtless, he would learn to copy, while the very fact of +Joe's father having kept so much to himself would have made Hurley's +non-recognition at the Bradleys' old home of no moment. The weak +point, however, arrived when he expected residents in the little +provincial town where Joe had spent his early existence to recognize in +Hurley the cycle maker who they knew had died quite lately. +</P> + +<P> +"He'd have been had there," said Joe thoughtfully, "unless, of course, +he had declared that he never lived in England after he was twenty +years of age. Ah! that was his game; he had become a colonist. No +doubt he could have imported some scoundrel to swear to the fact that +Hurley was not known as Hurley at all, but as Bradley. However, +there's an end to the matter. Wonder what this uncle of mine's like? +Don't feel over-keen on writing to him." +</P> + +<P> +Circumstances saved Joe that necessity, for no sooner had he sent +information to the London solicitors who held the proofs which his +father had deposited, than he learned that his uncle was dead. He had, +in fact, survived Mr. Bradley but a few months. Thus Joe was the heir +to the property. +</P> + +<P> +"Let it go hang for the time being," he said, when he and Hank and the +Fennicks were discussing the matter together; for the trio had safely +returned to the settlement at the head of the valley in New Ontario. +"I've something far more interesting here, I can assure you." +</P> + +<P> +He said that with truth, too, for never was there a more fascinating +business than Sam Fennick had created. That spring, in fact, more than +twenty families joined him, shacks were run up rapidly by the +corporation into which they formed themselves, while machinery was +already arriving. Soon the workers were divided into parties, each +with their tasks assigned, and by seeding time not only had every +family a good roof over its head, but an extraordinary amount of ground +had been broken. +</P> + +<P> +There is little to add with regard to our hero. That winter which +followed he ran over to England, and then, having placed his affairs in +the hands of lawyers, and having let the property to which he had +proved his title, he returned to join his comrades. Up at the end of +that valley Peter Strike, and Hank, and many another are now located. +A railway draws its steel lines through the heart of the settlement, +while a school is already building. That is the way with Canada, red +tape has scarcely an existence; it is merely a bad memory imported from +the old country. Yes, there is a school building, while the telephone +is fitted to houses rapidly replacing the rough shacks. But that is +not all. Electric light is generated by water power at the foot of the +lake, while there is a lumber mill down south, and logs pay handsomely. +Motors buzz, too, out on the fields, and acres of soil are ripped open +and ploughed in as many hours as days were taken formerly with horse +tackle. Joe himself is rather proud of the potatoes he grows on his +holding, while he has hopes some day of beating all at the annual fruit +show in Toronto. You may ask with reason, perhaps, whether he ever +pines for London or a city. No, emphatically no! Joe is an open-air +man, a jovial, hard-working, contented fellow, who loves the wilds of +the Dominion, and who now and again sneaks off into the backwoods with +his old chum Hank. But business is his main consideration. His +purchases close to Peter Strike's old settlement have increased +enormously in value, while elsewhere he is making money. +</P> + +<P> +"Not as it matters much to a chap same as you," said Hank one night, +for he and Joe lived together; "you're rich without these here acres. +But guess it's not the dollars you're after; it's makin' good, eh, Joe? +Making good 'lows a man to be proud of hisself, and, jingo, it aer +worth doing!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Boy of the Dominion, by F. S. 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S. Brereton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Boy of the Dominion + A Tale of Canadian Immigration + +Author: F. S. Brereton + +Illustrator: William Rainey + +Release Date: December 3, 2011 [EBook #38206] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOY OF THE DOMINION *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: HIS FINGERS HIT UPON THE MUZZLE OF THE WEAPON _Page 343_] + + + + + +A + +Boy of the Dominion + + +A Tale of Canadian Immigration + + + +BY + +LT.-COLONEL F. S. BRERETON + +Author of "Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout" "With Shield and Assegai" &c. + + + +_ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I._ + + + +BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED + +LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY + +1913 + + + + +_Printed in Great Britain by_ + +_Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + + + +BY LT.-COLONEL BRERETON + + +"F. S. Brereton is a famous hand with adventures of every +sort."--_Morning Post_. + + + + Colin the Scout: A Tale of Adventure Abroad. + On the Field of Waterloo. + With French at the Front: A Story of the Great European War + down to the Battle of the Aisne. + With Joffre at Verdun: A Story of the Western Front. + Under Foch's Command: A Tale of the Americans in France. + With the Allies to the Rhine: A Story of the Finish of the War. + With Allenby in Palestine: A Story of the Latest Crusade. + Under French's Command: A Story of the Western Front from + Neuve Chapelle to Loos. + The Great Airship: A Tale of Adventure. + From the Nile to the Tigris: A Story of Campaigning from + Western Egypt to Mesopotamia. + A Boy of the Dominion: A Tale of Canadian Immigration. + Under the Chinese Dragon: A Tale of Mongolia. + A Sturdy Young Canadian: A Story of Modern Canada. + John Bargreave's Gold: A Tale of the Caribbean. + How Canada was Won: A Tale of Wolfe and Quebec. + Tom Stapleton, the Boy Scout. + Roger the Bold: A Tale of the Conquest of Mexico. + Indian and Scout. + The Rough Riders of the Pampas. + In the King's Service: A Tale of Cromwell's Invasion of Ireland. + With Shield and Assegai: A Tale of the Zulu War. + With Rifle and Bayonet: A Tale of the Boer War. + The Dragon of Pekin: A Tale of the Boxer Revolt. + One of the Fighting Scouts: A Tale of Guerilla Warfare in + South Africa. + A Knight of St. John: A Tale of the Siege of Malta. + The Great Aeroplane. + +LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, LTD., 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C. + + + + +Contents + +CHAP. + + I. Finding a Profession + II. An Ocean Voyage + III. Volunteers called for + IV. Joe Gathers Credit + V. One of the Settlers + VI. A Canadian Bad Man + VII. Into the Backwoods + VIII. Hank makes his Appearance + IX. Lost in the Forest + X. A Hand-to-hand Encounter + XI. Investing Hard-Earned Dollars + XII. The Canadian Winter + XIII. A Co-operative Proposition + XIV. Moose Hunting + XV. Pursued by Unknown Enemies + XVI. Choosing a Fortress + XVII. Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded + XVIII. On the Defensive + XIX. Across the Snows for Safety + XX. Back to the Farm + + + + +Illustrations + + +His Fingers hit upon the Muzzle of the Weapon . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +Joe Attacks the Fire at Close Quarters + +Peter and Jack Bailey find Joe Unconscious + +Joe Surprises Hurley + +The Moose charged Madly + +A Defence against Odds + + + + + +A BOY OF THE DOMINION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Finding a Profession + +It was just past ten o'clock on a chilly morning in the early spring +when Joe Bradley emerged from the shop door of the little house which +had been his father's, and stepped, as it were, abruptly into life. +The banging of the door and the turning of the key were a species of +signal to him, as if to warn him that the past, however fair or foul it +may have been, was done with, and that the future alone stared him in +the face. + +"There it is," he said, somewhat sadly, handing the key to a man who +accompanied him. "You've paid me the money, and have arranged about +your lease. The business is yours." + +"And you can wish me success," came the answer. "Hope I'll do better +than your father." + +"I hope it, with all my heart," said Joe, his lip a little tremulous. +"Goodbye! Good luck!" + +He could hardly trust himself to say even that; for Joe was but +seventeen years of age, and changes are apt to prove trying to one so +youthful. Moreover, there are few, fortunately, who at the age of +seventeen find themselves face to face with the future all alone. + +Joe pulled the collar of his overcoat up over his ears, for the wind +was keen and cutting, and thrust his hands deep into his trouser +pockets. For a little while he watched the retreating figure of the +man to whom he had sold his father's business, and then glanced +aimlessly up and down the single street of which this little northern +town boasted. Let us declare at once that hesitation was not a feature +of Joe's character; but there was an excuse for such a display on this +cold morning. For, as we have just said, when he stepped out of his +shop he, as it were, stepped into this big world; he cut himself adrift +from the past and all its pleasant memories, and faced the wide future. + +"What to do, that's the knotty question? Can't stay here, that's quite +certain. Then where do I go? It's a corker!" + +If one puts oneself in the place of Joe Bradley for a few moments, +thoroughly understanding his position, it will be admitted that there +was good cause for hesitation, and that a dilemma such as he found +himself in would puzzle anyone, and even one gifted with greater age +and discretion. For beyond the fair education which he had contrived +to pick up, and some knowledge of mechanics and cycle fitting, Joe +could boast of no special training; in any case, he knew of nothing in +this little northern town which could give him employment. + +"I've simply got to move away--only where, that's the question," he +repeated to himself for perhaps the fiftieth time that day. "I've +sixty pounds in my pocket. That's my capital. If I do nothing I live +on that money, and the day draws nearer and nearer when I must work or +starve; so work is the thing I want. Exactly so--work. What work? +Where?" + +He pursed his lips up and whistled--a little habit of his--then he +looked up and down the street again, his brows furrowed, evidently +thinking deeply. And while he stands there before the cycle shop which +had been in his father's possession, we may as well take advantage of +his indecision to take a careful look at Joe. + +Seventeen he called himself, and the face was that of a lad of about +that age, though perhaps, if anything, just a trifle too serious for +one so young. But it was unlined, save for the wrinkles which were now +upon his brow while he was thinking. It was a frank, open face, and +when one caught him smiling, which in other days was often enough, +there was something particularly taking about Joe Bradley. Indeed, he +was a gay, light-hearted fellow, just the one, in fact, who, finding +his fortunes suddenly darkened, might very likely mope and pine and +suffer from a severe attack of the blues. But Joe had too much +character for that. The shrill whistle he had given broke into a +jaunty tune, while he plunged his hands even deeper into his pockets. +No, there was no sign of the blues about him, but merely a show of +anxiety clearly reflected on a face which bade fair, one of these days, +to be handsome. There was grit, too, about Joe's features; there was +budding firmness about the jaw and lips, while the eyes belonged to one +who could look friend or foe in the face without flinching. Otherwise +he was rather tall for his age, squarely built, and decidedly active. + +"Hallo!" called someone to him, and swinging round Joe found himself +facing the doctor's assistant. + +"Hallo!" he responded, smiling. + +"Where away?" came the question, while the doctor arrested his bicycle +and balanced it with one foot on either side. + +"That's just it," said Joe, looking serious. "I was just asking myself +the same thing. It's a conundrum." + +"A conundrum, eh? Don't understand, Joe." + +"Then it's like this," explained our young friend, while the doctor +regarded him closely. "I've just handed over the key of the shop to +Mr. Perkins. He's paid me sixty pounds for the business as a going +concern. So I'm out of work and homeless. I'm just wondering what to +do and where to go. I've sent my box to the station, but exactly in +which direction I shall travel is a toss up." + +"In fact, you've the world before you, and find it hard to say which +part shall be honoured with your presence," smiled the doctor. "Well, +Joe, one thing's certain--this place is no good to you. You'd collect +dust here, and that's no good to anyone. Make for London, +or--George!--why shouldn't you--why not emigrate?" + +"Emigrate?" + +"Yes; go to Canada or Australia. Strike out a line for yourself. +There are thousands who are doing it--thousands who haven't got so much +as sixty shillings in their pockets. Think it over." + +"I will," declared Joe, his eyes shining. + +"Then come and see me to-night and we'll have a talk. Must move along +now; I've a patient to visit." + +The doctor was off within a few seconds, leaving Joe still standing +outside the shop so recently vacated, still with his ears well within +his collar and his hands deep in his pockets. But there was a new +expression on his face, while the eyes were distinctly brighter. For +here was a suggestion; here was a way out of the dilemma which for the +past three weeks had faced him. Till then he had hardly known the +meaning of the word trouble. He had been content to work in the cycle +shop with his father. But the latter's sudden death, the necessity to +sell the business and move away had thrown our young friend into a +whirl that was bewildering. And this suggestion that he should +emigrate was the first solid one that had been made to him. + +"Why not?" he asked himself. "Others have done so. Of course I could, +if I liked, take the other course Father points out to me. Supposing I +were to open the letter?" + +He withdrew one hand from his trouser pocket and plunged it into an +inner one. When he brought it into the light again there was a long +sealed envelope between his fingers. Joe turned it round and read some +writing on it carefully. + +"To my son, Joe Bradley," he read. "The contents of this letter will +explain to you many things which I have never cared to refer to. But I +beg of you never to open it till you are in direst need, or have earned +the right to do so. Make your way in the world; gather riches. Then +you can open and read." + +"Make your way in the world and then open. I will," declared Joe +aloud, forgetful of his surroundings. + +"Will what? Eh? You ain't ill, Joe?" asked a man who had approached +from between the houses. In fact, he had suddenly emerged from an +alleyway that cut in between the shop which Joe had so recently vacated +and the next one, belonging to the nearest grocer. Swinging round, our +young friend found himself face to face with the local constable. A +huge, hairy face was grinning at him from beneath an absurdly small +helmet. + +"Will what?" demanded the constable, his smile broadening till he +showed an uneven array of teeth, from the centre of the upper row of +which one was missing. Joe's eyes were attracted by the gap, and in a +flash he remembered that Constable Near had come by the injury during a +contest with some poachers. "Will what?" demanded the hairy fellow +again. "It's a queer thing to hear a young fellow saying as you spring +out upon him. There was you, Mister Joe, standing all alone, +wool-gathering I should reckon, and holding out a paper before you. 'I +will!' you cries, as if you was gettin' married. What's it all about?" + +Joe told him crisply. "I'm wondering what on earth to do with myself," +he said. "Doctor Tanner suggests emigrating." + +"And why not?" exclaimed the constable. "Why not, me lad? If I was +young again, same as you, I'd go. Don't you make no error, I'd hook it +termorrer. And I'll tell yer fer why--this country's too full of +people. Out there, in Canidy, there's room for me and you, and +thousands like us. There's free grants of land to be had; there's +labour fer all, and good wages." + +"And no failures?" asked Joe shrewdly. + +"In course there's failures. In course there's people too tired to +work when they do get out, and there's others taken in and robbed by +those who should know better; but there's success fer most, Mister Joe. +There's better than that; there's indipendence--indipendence, me lad! +For two twos I'd sell up and be going. Now look you here, come along +to the station, where I'll show you a few figures." + +Here was a treasure; Joe snatched at the opportunity, and accompanied +his old friend the constable to his own cosy little cottage. Nor was +he there for long before he learned that it was possible to obtain an +assisted passage to Canada, with the definite promise of work on +landing. Moreover, with the money he had he could easily pay his way +and still have enough to make him independent when he arrived. + +"You jest think it all over," said Constable Near, when he had shown +Joe various papers. "You're young enough, and supposing you don't like +Canada, why, you could go along on to Australia. But like it you will; +I've heard tell of it often." + +"Then I'll go into the matter," Joe answered. "If I want more +particulars I'll call in again. Thanks, constable; I already feel that +I have fewer difficulties." + +It was with a lighter and a brisker step that he emerged into the +street again. Cramming his hat down on his head, Joe tucked his collar +about his ears again--for it was very cold outside--and went striding +off towards the country. + +"Can't think in this town," he told himself. "I always get back to the +shop, as it were, thinking of Father and of his letter. That letter's +a temptation to me. I won't open it; I swear I'll make my way before I +venture to break the seals. Now about Canada--or shall it be +Australia?" + +It was a sensible idea of Joe's to clear out of the town and all its +old associations. For, recollect, he was young, and almost up till +that moment had had a father to refer to in all his youthful +difficulties. But Mr. Bradley, never a very robust man, had died +somewhat suddenly some three weeks earlier, and Joe was now an orphan. +As to his parentage, he was even then somewhat vague. His mother he +had never known. She was not even a memory to him, having died shortly +after his birth. Of his father he knew little more. Obviously he was +one who had been born to better things than a cycle shop. There were +many in this northern town who wagged their heads when speaking of Mr. +Bradley, and the doctor, a shrewd judge of character and of men, had +long ago decided the point; only, being a discreet fellow, had +mentioned it to none other than his wife. + +"There's something about that Mr. Bradley that bothers me, my dear," he +had said. "He's a gentleman through and through, while his personal +appearance, his reserve, and his manners generally proclaim that he has +seen better days. He never grumbles; but I know there is a history +behind his reserve. The boy takes after him, too; he keeps much to +himself, and is obviously superior to boys of a similar station." + +That was the general opinion of the keeper of the cycle shop, and +seeing that Mr. Bradley gave himself no airs, and was always pleasant +to all and sundry, he was, in his quiet, retiring way, a popular +character in the town. His death had been followed by the usual +gossip. Then a buyer for the business had speedily turned up, and with +his help and that of a local solicitor Joe had had no difficulty in +settling all his affairs and in paying all debts. As we have said, +here he was with sixty pounds in his pocket, good health, good temper, +and good appearance, and the world before him. But he had no fixed +purpose in life. He was like the man who enters upon business without +a plan of action; like the general without a settled scheme of +campaign, and likely enough to expend his whole strength in useless and +profitless skirmishes. Joe, without a plan to work with, was certain +to see his little fortune slip from between his fingers before he found +remunerative work. + +"Must get out of the place and think," he told himself. "Here's for a +sharp walk." + +Head buried in his collar still, and hands deep in his pockets, he went +striding away into the country, nodding to those acquaintances who gave +him good day. It was a little later when he heard in the far distance +the echo of a motor horn. + +"Big car," he told himself, for his father had dabbled in motor-car +repairs, and Joe had learned more than a smattering of those useful and +wonderful machines. "Coming along fast, too. Fellow's in a hurry. +They'd better pull up soon, for the corner yonder is a sharp one, and +there are cattle on the road." + +His eyes followed the long greasy ribbon ahead, winding in between the +hedges till it was cut off at an abrupt angle where the road doubled +almost upon itself. The corner was, in fact, one similar to those to +be found so often in England, perhaps a relic of the early days when +roads were first constructed, and some selfish owner declined to allow +their passage, save and except they passed round the confines of his +property. Whatever the reason, here was a greasy strip of macadam +doubling upon itself, with a herd of cattle ambling aimlessly along it. +Boom! The horn sounded again, while the whirr of machinery died down a +trifle. + +"Driver has seen the triangle marking a dangerous corner and is +slowing," Joe told himself. "He'll have a surprise when he gets round; +it'll be a case of brakes hard on." + +Boom! Boom! The car was up to the corner. It came shooting round, +not necessarily at too fast a pace; for your modern, low-hung car can +legitimately attack curves at a speed of twenty or more miles an hour. +But the careful driver allows for the unexpected. Wagons are to be +discovered often enough at a corner, and invariably on the wrong side +of the road. Pedestrians, gifted with wonderfully thick heads and, one +suspects, with a degree often enough of stupid obstinacy, insist on +adhering to the centre of the road. Yes, there are often unexpected +obstacles, and here there were cattle. Round the car came--a big red +one--its glass wind shield flashing in the light. Burr! Screech! The +brakes went on instantly, and the scream of metal came to Joe's ear. + +"Old car," he told himself again, with the air of one who has had +experience. "New cars don't make a sound with their brakes. My! He's +put 'em on hard; he'll skid if he isn't careful." + +He just had time to observe the fact that there was a single individual +in the car, seated in the driving seat, and then what any experienced +motorist might anticipate happened. The car skidded; its nose shot to +one side, and Joe got a glimpse of it broadside. Then it swung round +again, slued across to the side of the road, turned completely till its +back passed before his eyes and was again replaced by the front. +Whereupon, with irresistible impulse behind it, it charged the bank, +ran up it and turned over with a thud, coming to a stop within ten feet +of the nearest beast, with its four wheels still spinning. Joe jammed +his hat firmly on to his head and raced towards the scene of the +accident. + +"Chap killed, I expect," he said. "Anyway, he's under the car. I saw +it come down over him; beastly place that corner! Besides, the fellow +was going too fast. His own fault; inexperienced, perhaps." + +It took him a matter of three minutes to reach the scene of the upset, +when he found the drover gazing at the upturned car as if spellbound, +his mouth wide open, his small store of intelligence utterly gone. + +"Drive the cattle into that field and then give me a hand," cried Joe, +seeing that he must give a lead. "Quick with it! The driver is under +the car, and we must get him out. Don't stand gaping, man! Bustle! +Bustle!" + +He pointed to a gate near at hand giving entrance to a grass field, and +ran on to the car. The wheels were still spinning, at least those in +front were, while the back ones had come to a rest. A man's cloth cap +was lying just outside the car, while the lifting trap, which often +enough is fitted to the floor of the back part of cars, had swung +downward. Joe leaned over, thrust his head through the opening, and +peered beneath the car. There was a man's arm just beneath him, and +farther along he could see the rest of the unfortunate fellow's body. + +"Hallo!" he called. "Hurt?" + +A groan answered him. He heard the late driver of the car gasping, +then he was answered in a weak voice, the words interrupted by gasps. + +"Wind knocked clean out of me," he heard. "Can't move; I'm pinned down +by the top of the front seat. Get the car off me." + +Joe moved rapidly; slowness was not one of his failings. He vaulted to +the other side of the car and peered beneath it; then he lifted his +head and gazed around. + +"Hallo!" he called again, going to the opening he had used before. +"Where's the jack? Can I get at it?" + +"Back of the car," came the gasping answer. "Don't be long. I can +scarcely breathe; the whole weight of the thing seems to be on my +chest." + +Joe raced to the back of the upturned car, wrenched at the brass handle +which operated the lock of the cupboard usually to be found there, and, +tearing the door open, discovered a jumbled mass of rags, spare motor +parts, an inflator pump, and a lifting jack. He whipped the latter out +in the space of a few seconds, and darting round to the side of the +car, looked shrewdly at it. Then, careless of the damage he might do +to the coachwork, he placed the jack beneath the lowest edge, pushed it +into position and rapidly worked the lever which operated it. Slowly +he managed to raise the side of the car a matter of some three inches. + +"How's that?" he called. + +"Better," came the answer, in what seemed to be a tone of relief. +"There's not so much pressure on me now. But I'm pinned fast; I think +my trousers are under the other side. What'll you do?" + +"Leave it to me," called Joe. "I'll not go away till you are released. +Still the car is a heavy one, and there are only two of us here. I've +told the drover to put his cattle into the field near by and then come +and help. Stay still, or you may jerk that jack out of place. I'll +get hold of the drover, and we'll see what can be done." + +"Be he killed, maister?" he heard, as he lifted his head. "He were +coming that tremendous fast, that I knew he'd smash. I hollered; but +it warn't no sort o' good. He just come round like a rocket." + +"He's alive, but pinned down by the car," Joe explained. "We must have +something to use as a lever. Look for a strong rail." + +They went together along the hedge seeking for something to suit their +purpose, and presently came upon two lengths of timber beside a stack +of hay. Joe led the way back to the car, running as fast as he could. + +"Now, we want something to use as a point for our levers," he said. "A +pile of bricks would be best, but there are none hereabouts." + +"How'll stones do?" asked the countryman, his mouth still agape. +"There be plenty jest here." + +Close to the gate there were quite a number of squared blocks which had +probably at one time been built as a support for the gate post. Joe +seized upon one, while the lusty drover brought a couple. + +"Now, let's consider the matter," said Joe. "With these long poles we +shall be able to lever the car up; but that isn't enough. We want to +turn her clean over. We want a rope." + +The driver had that, for a wonder. "I be one of those careful sort," +he explained, with a giggle. "Most times there ain't no need fer a +rope. But still I carries one, 'cos you never do know, now do yer? I +carries one in case there's a fretful beast. And here it is." + +Joe already had his plans made. There was a tree on the opposite side +of the road, within five yards of the upturned car. He took the rope +and made it fast to the far edge of the car. Then he carried the other +end to the tree, passed a loop round it, and beckoned to the countryman. + +"Hold on," he said. "As I lever the car up, take in the slack and hold +fast. Mind you don't bungle, or that poor chap may be killed." + +A minute later he had his long lever in position, with the end well +beneath the edge of the car, and a pile of stones some fifteen inches +from the point of leverage. With such a pole as he had--for it was +fourteen feet long, perhaps--he had now tremendous power, and firm +pressure at the end first caused the pole to bend, and then lifted the +car with ease. + +"Hold on!" he shouted, and, obedient to the word, the drover hauled in +the slack of his rope. "Again! Once more! Now stand fast; that's +enough for the moment." + +By dint of careful effort Joe had now raised the edge of the car a +matter of two feet, and having built his stone fulcrum still higher, he +soon had the space beneath even greater. Waiting to see that the +drover had firm hold of his rope, he then dropped his lever, and, +stepping under the car, dragged the imprisoned driver out. + +"Much damage?" he asked. + +"Shaken, that's all. Nothing broken, I believe. I've been feeling +myself all over. Arms all right, you see; legs ditto. Chest, er--yes. +No ribs broken, I imagine, though I feel as if I had been under a steam +roller. You're a fine fellow; I owe you a heap." + +"Then you rest there for a little," said Joe, dragging him to the +hedge, and well out of harm's way. "We'll turn the car right side up +if we're able." + +It was fortunate that at that moment two men came along the road in a +trap. Dismounting, they assisted in the work, and very soon the car +was righted, coming down on to her four wheels with a bump which might +have been expected to shake the engine out of her. But no harm was +done; beyond badly-bent mud guards, there seemed to be no damage. Even +the steering gear was unharmed. Joe busied himself with the engine, +threw the gear lever into neutral, and soon had the motor running. + +"I'll take you along to the doctor," he said, going to the damaged +stranger. "Like to come?" + +"You can drive? Got a licence?" came the questions--and then, as Joe +nodded--"Right! Here's something for the men who helped; please thank +them for me." + +Two minutes later Joe was driving the car back into the town he had so +recently left. His first day's battle with the world had resulted in +an adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +An Ocean Voyage + +"Not a single bone broken, I assure you," declared Dr. Tanner, when he +had thoroughly examined the stranger, to whose help Joe had so +opportunely come. "Bruises, of course; plenty of them. There's a +swelling here on the back of your head almost as big as a turnip. +You'd better rest quietly for the night." + +"But--but I have business to attend to," declared the stranger, who we +will at once introduce by his correct name of Hubbard. "I'm due in +Manchester to-morrow, then in Birmingham, and later in Coventry. I +can't sit down and rest." + +"You must, or take the consequences," answered Dr. Tanner, smiling. +"Come and have some tea. Joe, you join us; I've that yarn to have with +you about Canada. Now, Mr. Hubbard, what do you advise a young fellow +like this to do? He's not on his beam ends; far from it. He has a +little capital; but he's adrift as it were. Has no occupation, and no +means at present of earning a living." + +"Then I'll offer him work at once, work to last a week," declared Mr. +Hubbard. "Only a week, though, mind that, my young friend and rescuer. +I'm no great hand at driving a car, and after this accident I feel that +my nerve is shaken. Come along and drive the car. You managed +beautifully this afternoon. Come as a friend; I'll pay all expenses, +and give you three pounds into the bargain." + +"Done, sir!" It was characteristic of Joe that he accepted the post at +once. In fact, he leaped at it; for it was exactly to his liking. + +"But don't forget it's not a permanency, Joe," sang out the doctor, +lifting a warning finger and shaking it at him. "Permanent jobs are +the only posts for young fellows. They learn then to be useful, to +manage things. Temporary jobs lead to unsettlement. Besides, you know +the old adage, "a rolling stone gathers no moss". Moss is wealth and +position, all that makes for happiness, and you want to gather it with +both hands. Eh, Mr. Hubbard?" + +"Spoken like a wise counsellor," came the laughing rejoinder. "But you +began to speak of our young friend." + +"Well, there he is," said the doctor, pausing in the act of pouring out +a cup of tea, and pointing to Joe with the spout of the teapot, "there +he is, employed at this moment as chauffeur to yourself, but likely to +be without a job in the course of a week. What are his prospects in +this country? Fair, we will say; for he is one of the steady lads. +What are his prospects in Canada or Australia?" + +"Depends; he's a worker, you say?" + +Joe flushed as he listened to this conversation that reflected on +himself, then he laughed good-humouredly. + +"A worker, yes; steady, certainly," replied the doctor. + +"Then Canada will brighten his prospects. I know the country; I'm +doing business for a firm out there, and so can speak with some +knowledge. Certainly Canada will improve his prospects. He's got +capital?" + +"Sixty pounds," said Joe, who was listening eagerly. + +"Then forget it. Buy your ticket for the crossing, and then earn your +way. Forget the dollars till you've learned experience, then invest +them as you'll soon ascertain how to do. Bless us, but I wish I was in +his shoes! Think of the interest of such a life; think of the +enjoyment of working one's way up, of climbing higher! This humdrum +existence we most of us lead is tame beside such an opportunity for +flattering one's ambition." + +"In fact," asked the doctor, "you advise emigration?" + +"Indeed I do," came the prompt answer, while Mr. Hubbard stirred his +tea. "Mind you, I don't say that there is no opportunity in this +country for youth and ambition. What I do say is this. Where a man +has no ties, where a young fellow has lost his parents, and has little +or no influence to start his career, then Canada calls loudly to him. +There he will make new ties, new friends, new hopes. There he can have +land for the asking, if farming is what he wants; and success is +assured, one way or the other, if only he will put his back into the +work. Of course, I know what you're going to say, Doctor," he went on, +arresting the latter's interruption with uplifted teaspoon. "Men come +back again; men fail. Of course they do; the lonesomeness of the long +winter gives the half-hearted the blues. Others attempt to follow a +vocation for which they were never suited. Weak men break down under +the strain. Slackers get deported; but young active fellows, with +pluck behind them, and with grit and strength and health, they make +good every time, sir. They help to form the backbone of Canada." + +Joe's eyes glowed as he listened. His cheeks took on a colour to which +they had been a stranger of late, since trouble had come upon him. He +began to wonder what life in Canada would be like. He leaned forward, +one hand at his cup, his eyes shifting from the doctor to this voluble +stranger. Moreover, Mr. Hubbard was no ill-looking man to watch; there +was eagerness and keenness written on every feature of his face. +Perhaps he was thirty-five years of age, perhaps even younger. But he +was shrewd and level-headed without a doubt, also he gave one the +impression that he was a man who had travelled far and seen much, and +who ventured his opinions only when he knew his subject. It was plain +that Canada was an open book to him. + +"The long and the short of the matter then is this," smiled the doctor, +vastly interested in his visitor, "you advise Joe to go." + +"I advise him to go, and I'll put him up to the ropes. There!" + +Mr. Hubbard helped himself to cake, fixing his eyes sharply on our +hero; and Joe returned the glance unflinchingly. "You'll make good, or +I'm right out of my calculations," declared Mr. Hubbard, after quite a +long scrutiny of his features. "Then's the time when a man finds life +enjoyable, for he knows he's done well; he ain't got much to regret." + +That evening Joe heard more of Canada from his friend the constable. +He supped at the local hotel with his employer, and turned in early. +The following morning, after bidding farewell to the doctor and a few +others, he brought the car out of the yard, ran to the station, there +to pick up his box, and then came to a halt opposite the hotel door. + +"Been at work, I see," said Mr. Hubbard, surveying the car. "You've +straightened those mud guards and cleaned her. That's push; some +fellows wouldn't have thought of it. Others would have been too proud +to do the cleaning. Now let her hum." + +It does not require that we should follow the two on their trip about +the country. Suffice it to say that, thanks to previous experience, +Joe drove the car with ease and dexterity, a fact which his employer +had already noted. + +"And mighty lucky I am to have hit upon you," he laughed, as they +buzzed on their way to Manchester. "First, for the fact that you +dragged me out of my prison after that upset, and now because you were +free to come with me. I'm so stiff to-day that I couldn't have driven +had I wished, and I rather expect it will be a few days before I am +quite fit again. So it's a huge convenience, for my business wouldn't +wait." + +A week later the two ended their trip at Liverpool. + +"Where we see to this passage of yours to Canada," said Mr. Hubbard. +"Now, if you'll be advised, you'll go steerage. As you're emigrating, +best start in right at the beginning with the people who'll be +alongside you. I shall pay for your passage." + +In spite of Joe's protests, Mr. Hubbard insisted on doing this, and did +not finally say goodbye to our hero till he had seen him aboard the +Canadian Pacific liner which was to bear him to his destination. +Moreover, his gratitude to Joe took the form of an outfit as well as a +passage. + +"Clothes of every description are very dear out there," he said, "so +you'll want a kit with you. Everything warm, mind. That's the way. +In the hot weather you can leave off what you don't need; but in the +winter warm things are wanted." + +In the end Joe found himself with a strong box containing several +flannel shirts and underwear, a pair of high boots and two pairs of +strong nailed ones, socks in abundance, a suit of corduroy and one of +strong tweed, two neck handkerchiefs, a slouch hat, and various other +articles, not to mention a kettle, a teapot, a tin mug, basin, and +plate, with the necessary portable knives, forks, and spoons, and a +canteen containing tea and sugar and a tin of condensed milk. + +"Looks stupid to be taking all that rig, don't it?" asked Mr. Hubbard, +with a quizzical smile. "But then, you see, I've been through the +mill. You'll get to Quebec and then go aboard the train. Well, food +doesn't grow by the wayside nor on the cars. You've got to take it +along with you and cook whatever you want; so don't forget to buy up a +tin or so of sausages and such things. With those and the kit you've +got here you'll be in clover. Now, lad, there's the bell for +landlubbers to get ashore. Don't forget to give me a call one of these +days when you're round by Ottawa; and always remember to make good. +Goodbye!" + +Their hands met, they looked keenly into one another's eyes, and then +he was gone. Joe was alone again, alone upon the deck of a ship +swarming with people, but alone for all that; for everyone about him +seemed to have friends. He plunged his hands deep into his pockets and +whistled a merry tune; for if he were alone, Joe felt happy. The +fingers of his right hand nursed the banker's draft for those sixty +pounds he had banked; the fingers of his left handled the cash which +his liberal employer had paid him. His coat bulged to the right where +his father's letter was secreted, and somewhere on the ship was the +steel trunk which contained his kit. Alone! Joe scoffed at the +thought, and went on whistling merrily. + +"All ashore!" someone bellowed, while sailors ran past him on some +errand. The steam siren of the ship sent a wide spray of water over +the passengers, and then, as if thereby it had cleared its throat, it +set up a deep, reverberating roar that deafened all other sounds. The +deck thrilled and throbbed; the water right astern was churned into +milk-white foam, while the shore seemed to be moving. Joe leaned over +the side and waved frantically to Mr. Hubbard. Down below, he could +see a thousand faces. A thousand handkerchiefs waved frantically up at +him. Alone! Why, they all seemed to be friends; they all seemed to be +wishing him good fortune. Even the tall, stern waterside policemen +seemed to unbend and smile. + +"Hooray! Hooray!" shouted Joe, unable longer to restrain his +enthusiasm. "We're off." + +"Hooray!" came back from the throng on the landing stage. Then, as the +ship's head paid off to the pull of a tug, and another thrill went +through her as her turbines turned, the blaring notes of a trombone +came to the passengers. It was "Auld Lang Syne", and the tune sent +people sobbing. Joe watched a big fellow close beside him, and saw the +tears stream down his face. But the scene changed with the tune, and +that in an instant. It was "Rule Britannia" now, and the man was +standing erect and as stiff as a poker. + +"Old soldier," thought Joe. "Going out?" he asked. + +"To Canidy, yessir," came the answer. "Going out along with the missus +and the youngsters. Couldn't get work here in the old country. I +don't grumble, mind you. I'm not the one to shout out about aliens +crowding the likes of me out. It's the training that's wrong. I've +none; I'm good only for casual work and unskilled jobs, and there's +thousands more for 'em. But Jim--he's my brother--he went out this +five years ago, and he's made a pile already--a pile, sir, enough to +pay a passage for me and the missus and the children." + +There was hope in the honest fellow's face; he was looking with a glad +heart to the future, and no doubt at that moment was bidding farewell +to a past which, if not too pleasant and uncrowded with thoughts of +plenty and of enjoyment, at least had its touches of colour, its +memories, and its faces. + +By now the steamer was well in midstream, and the throb of the engines +was better felt. Not that your turbine leads to much vibration; but +still, with the horse-power possessed by these leviathans, it is only +reasonable that there should be some commotion. Joe walked to and fro +along the deck, and then began to feel hungry. He went to the +companion, a wide gap leading to the lower deck, and descended. There +was a woman halfway down vainly attempting to escort four children, all +of small stature. + +"Allow me," said Joe, and promptly picked up two of them. "Going out +to Canada?" he asked, though the question was hardly necessary, seeing +that that was the ship's only destination. + +"Winnipeg, sir," came the answer. "Husband went out a year ago; I'm +going to join him. Thank ye, sir!" + +Joe dived still lower into the depths of this monster ship, and found +himself in a huge hall with long tables set along the length of it. +Cloths were already laid, and there were mugs and plates in unending +rows, while dishes containing sliced cold meat were placed at +intervals. Already a number of people were seated, and Joe at once +took a place close to a respectable-looking couple. + +"Pardon," he asked, bumping the man as he sat down. + +"Eh?" + +"I apologized for knocking your arm," said Joe, flushing at the +bluntness of this individual. + +"Ah, me lad, thank ye," came the hearty answer. "Only it sort of took +me by surprise. I ain't used to overmuch politeness; we don't seem to +get much time where I come from. Been out before?" + +Joe shook his head, and asked for the plate of meat and bread and +butter. + +"Then you're green?" + +Joe smiled. "As grass," he said briskly. + +"Going to work or to play?" asked this stranger, as he stuffed a huge +piece of cake into his mouth. + +"Work--got to; I'd rather, any day." + +"Farming?" + +"That's my intention," declared Joe, helping himself liberally. + +"Then you'll like it. I'll be able to put you up to the ropes. You're +going out just at the right time, too, for it'll be fine weather. Tea, +me lad?" + +Joe accepted with pleasure, and began to look about him. People were +beginning to swarm down into this species of dining-hall, and they +presented all sorts and descriptions. There was a party of men +shepherded by an official of the Salvation Army, a dozen or more young +married couples, and as many women going out to join their husbands. A +small regiment of Scandinavians passed by, and were followed by a crew +of Russians. + +"Don't look as if they'd had so much as a bath between 'em, do they?" +grinned his neighbour. "But they've been travelling these many days, +and most like have crossed over from the continent during the night. +They're the boys fer work. Give me a Russian or a Scandinavian on the +farm. They earn their dollars and don't grumble. Now, lad, if you've +not been aboard one of these ships afore, you'd do well to settle your +bunk and take possession of it. There's a couple of likely youngsters +along here that we know of. They've come from our part of the world in +England, and they're decent fellows. Maybe you could pitch upon a +cabin fer three. If not, you'll have to sleep in the bunks out in the +open. Jim and Claude," he called, "here's a mate fer ye; get right +along and fix your bunks." + +Joe liked the look of the two young fellows instantly. They were about +his own age, and better dressed than many. He exchanged a smile with +them, then, having finished a meal which was excellent, to say the +least of it, and undoubtedly plentiful, he accompanied his two new +friends to the sleeping deck. Here were rows of canvas bunks suspended +on steel uprights and cross pieces, the whole looking clean and compact +and comfortable. At the vessel's sides were cabins of considerable +size, and, since they were amongst the first on the scene, they had no +difficulty in securing one to accommodate the three. + +"We'll be fine and comfortable in there," said one of the young fellows +named Claude. "We'll bring our things along just to prove possession. +Shouldn't leave anything about if I were you; for there might be a +thief aboard." + +Joe took the warning to heart, and so that there could be no danger of +a robbery where he was concerned, went to the purser promptly and there +deposited his banker's draft, his father's precious letter, and the +majority of the loose cash he possessed. + +"Now let's have a look round, and see if we can do anything to help," +said Jim, leading the way to the upper deck. Here they found a +seething crowd, for the ship was packed with emigrants, to say nothing +of her complement of first- and second-class passengers. She +presented, in fact, a good-sized township, with facilities for dealing +with every class of business, of which catering was not the least +important. In the centre of the crowds of emigrants our hero was soon +attracted to a railed-in space wherein was a mass of sand, and in this +a number of children were digging. Elsewhere men lounged and smoked, +while women sat on their worldly possessions, many of them looking +forlorn and lost. + +"Give them two days to settle down, and all will be happy and +contented," said one of the stewards who happened to be passing. +"We're going to have a smooth crossing, so that will help." + +He pushed his way through the throng and dived down below. A +stewardess followed him, and others came bustling after her. Officials +now were engaged in inspecting the tickets of the passengers, while a +summons brought the emigrants in a long waiting queue to a table set in +the dining-hall, where one of the doctors with an assistant took +careful stock of them, particularly to observe whether or no each +person had been recently vaccinated. + +Joe was glad to creep into his comfortable bunk that night, as it had +been a day of movement; but a good sleep did wonders for him, and when +he rose on the following morning he was as fresh as paint. + +"How do yer like it?" asked the pleasant fellow, close to whom he had +sat on the previous day when he descended for a meal; for, following a +habit on emigrant steamers, he took the same place at table. + +"There's something interesting all the time," said Joe. "This sea air +gives one an appetite." + +"Then peg in, lad," came the hearty advice. "Here's tea; help yerself. +Here's eggs and bacon, or will you have sausages?" + +The meal was an eye opener. No doubt there were many poor fellows +aboard who had not sat down to such a breakfast for many a long day, +for we must recollect that emigrants are not always prosperous when +they set out from the shores of Old England. It made Joe wonder of +what size was the storeroom on this ship, and how it was that the +purser or his assistants managed to gauge what would be required _en +route_. + +"Now you jest come along on deck with me and the missus and have a yarn +while I smoke. Do yer smoke?" asked the man who had been so friendly. + +"Not yet," was Joe's blushing answer. + +"And a good thing too. Not that I'm against it, seeing that I smoke +hard, and most of the day. What's yer name?" + +"Joe Bradley." + +"Mine's Sam Fennick. Sam's enough, and Joe'll do fer you. You ain't +been out before, you say. Who's sent you?" + +Joe was a confiding fellow, and told him his story; for Sam seemed an +excellent friend and listened with interest. + +"What'll you do?" he asked. "You'll land up in seven days, or perhaps +eight, at Quebec. There you'll go before the emigration authorities, +and will be examined again by the doctor. If all's well, you can start +right off on your own, providing you've sufficient dollars in your +pocket to make 'em sure you won't be a pauper. Paupers ain't what +Canada wants. She wants men with a little cash, not much--just enough +to keep the wolf away for a few days. But above everything, they must +be workers. And the Government over there won't have slackers. She +deports 'em double quick. Well, what'll you do?" + +"Look out for a farm," said Joe; "but where, beats me." + +"Then jest you think of New Ontario. It's the coming country. Now, +see here, mate; I'll give yer a piece of advice. You get along down +from Montreal. Accept a job on a farm, and stay there till the winter. +Then have a turn with the forest rangers. They don't do much in the +winter, it's true; but a few are kept going. Or you might go along +with a gang to a lumber camp. It'll keep you from rusting. Next +spring you could work again on a farm, and come the following cold +weather you ought to be able to look to yourself. We're off to seek a +location in this here New Ontario." + +"Then why couldn't I come with you?" asked Joe, for he liked the look +of this Sam Fennick. + +"And so you shall, but not at first. It'll take us best part of two +months to find a likely location. Then we've to make a heap of +arrangements, so I doubt our getting to at the job till late in the +year. So you'd better fix elsewhere; you can come along when we're +ready." + +It may be imagined that Joe spent many an hour discussing matters with +Sam, and soon began to long for Canada to heave in sight. However, +there were many miles of sea stretching between the ship and the Gulf +of St. Laurence, and they were not passed before he was involved in +another adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Volunteers called for + +It was rather late on the third morning of the voyage when Joe had his +attention attracted to one particular portion of the huge ship in which +he had taken passage to Canada. Not that this one particular portion +had escaped his notice; for, like the majority of young fellows +nowadays, our hero was certainly quick at observation. + +"Them things hum and squeak and flicker most of the day," said Sam +Fennick, withdrawing a somewhat dilapidated brier pipe from his mouth +and pointing the bowl at a deck house situated on the upper deck. +"What's it all about, youngster?" + +"Marconigrams coming and going," answered Joe; for the little house +alluded to was given up to that recent wonderful invention which allows +of messages being sent across space, without the aid and intervention +of the customary wires. "The young officer there used to live in our +neighbourhood. I once thought of becoming an operator myself, and, in +fact, had many lessons from him." + +"You had?" asked Sam, staring at Joe; for every hour that the two +conversed revealed to Sam that Joe was a little better than the +ordinary. Indeed, it is only reasonable that we should be fair, and +admit that in coming to such a conclusion Sam was strictly right. +After all, emigrants are not made up of the most intelligent or of the +highest educated of our population. Too often they are men and women +seeking a new life because of the failure of that which they had +previously followed; or they are young people with a fair education, +and with little else. In Joe's case, thanks to his own restless +ambition, and to the fact that his father had devoted many an hour to +him, the lad was acquainted with much unknown to the average emigrant. +And here was something. To Sam a marconigram was neither fish, flesh, +nor fowl; he didn't precisely know what it was, whether it had actual +shape, nor what was its colour. + +"Eh?" he asked. "You know the chap as works up there? And you've had +lessons? What's a marconigram, anyhow?" + +Joe explained with enthusiastic lucidity. + +"I've sent 'em, too," he said. "There was a station not so far from +us, and that's where I met Franc. It's nice having him aboard the same +ship. But he is busy, isn't he? There must be something happening out +of the ordinary. Wish I could go up there and join him; but it's +forbidden. He told me that particularly." + +It was only natural that our young hero should wish to see something of +a chum associated with former days. But Franc, the young Marconi +operator, was never get-at-able when on duty. It was only between the +spells of work in his office that he met Joe down on the emigrant deck +for'ard. Now, at the time when Sam and Joe were together, Franc was +undoubtedly busily engaged. Moreover, there was a subdued air of +mystery, if not of anxiety, about the officers who occasionally passed +amongst the emigrants. + +"What's up?" demanded Sam bluntly of one as he passed. "That thing +yonder"--and he again withdrew his pipe and pointed the bowl at the +Marconi office--"that thing's busy, I guess. Sending messages as fast +as the air'll take 'em. What's up, mister? Revolution back in the Old +Country, eh? What?" + +He received merely a curt answer; the officer hurried on, leaving Sam +none the wiser. + +"All the same, there's a ruction stirring somewhere," he said; "I can +see it with half an eye. The captain's walking up and down his bridge +as if there was lions after him. What's it all mean?" + +It became clearer, as the hours passed, that there was something +seriously wrong in some direction, though where or what the trouble +might be none could guess. Joe descended with his friend to dinner, +and it was not till he mounted to the deck again that he gained tidings +of what was happening. A huge column of pungent smoke was rising from +the fore hold of the ship as he gained the deck, while sailors were +moving about with wet cloths tied round their mouths. + +"A fire down below," said Sam, with a catch in his voice. "Lor'!" + +"Fire!" shrieked one of the passengers, a woman, as her eyes lit on the +smoke. Then the alarm was echoed from a hundred quarters. Men came +rushing up into the open. Women screamed, and one huge fellow, a +Russian by his appearance, came rushing across the deck and cast +himself into one of the boats. + +"Silence!" commanded the captain through his megaphone, coming to the +front of the bridge. "Quartermaster, turn that man out of that boat." + +"Aye, aye, sir!" came from a burly individual, already advancing on the +spot in question. "Now then," he said, when he had reached the boat, +"you hop out, quick." + +But the Russian was not inclined to do so. Terror had taken firm hold +on him, and he sat clutching the thwarts, heedless of the quartermaster +and of the fact that the boat sat firmly upon its guides on the deck, +and offered as yet no sort of protection. But he remained there for +only a minute, for the quartermaster hopped over the thwarts, seized +the Russian by his coat and by the seat of his trousers, and threw him +out without ceremony. + +"Passengers," called the captain, in a voice so steady that he might +have been inviting them to dinner, "there is nothing as yet to be +alarmed at. Please go on with your work or your pleasures as if +nothing were happening. I call upon every man and woman to set a good +example, remembering that there are children amongst us." + +That was enough. Men who had run forward with alarm written on their +faces went back to their wives and children at once. Others gathered +into anxious knots and went on with their pipes, while the children, +unconscious of their danger, romped about the decks. + +"All the same, it's a ticklish business," said Sam, after a while. +"They've got the hatches off, and I expect they're trying to clear out +the stuff that's afire. That looks bad, for as a rule they'd leave the +hatches on and turn steam sprays on to the burning cargo. Perhaps the +sprays can't get at the stuff that's afire." + +"In any case, the crew won't be able to continue for long at the work +unaided," added Joe. "Look! There's one overcome by the smoke; +they've carried him off along the deck to the doctor." + +In the course of the next hour four men were rendered incapable by the +pungent smoke issuing from the hold, while the smoke itself had become +even denser. Huge clouds arose through the hatchway and, caught by the +breeze--for all this while the ship was forging ahead at her fastest +pace--went billowing out behind her. So dense, in fact, was it, that +the passengers for'ard could not see the bridge nor any other part of +the giant vessel. + +"Want volunteers?" asked Joe of an officer hurrying along the deck. + +"Eh?" came the curt and hurried answer. + +"Do you want any help?" repeated Joe. "There are plenty of us who +would be eager and willing. That would free the men who are needed for +the usual work of the vessel." + +"Well now, that's a fine idea. See here," said the officer hurriedly, +"I'll get along to the skipper and ask him what his wishes are. Of +course he may say he's right as things are, but then the 'Old Man' may +think differently. Meanwhile, you get a few likely chaps together. If +they're wanted, everything'll be ready." + +He went off at a quick pace, striding over the deck, and Joe saw him +clambering to the bridge, where he sought the anxious captain. + +"Well?" demanded Sam, for the idea of volunteers being called for had +never occurred to him. "What'll you do?" + +"Get a few men together at once," said Joe. "You stop here, and I'll +send 'em over to you. That'll allow them to gather without creating a +fuss. Anything is likely to increase the uneasiness of the passengers, +and we don't want to add to the alarm they already feel." + +He left Sam smoking heavily by the rail and went off amongst the +passengers, who, in spite of their efforts to remain calm, were +obviously filled with alarm. For if huge clouds of smoke had been +coming from the open hatch before, it was billowing out now in vast +volumes, smoke, too, which set everyone on the bridge choking, for +there was a slight headwind, and the breeze the ship herself made in +her rapid passage through the air helped to carry the smoke backward. +As to the first- and second-class passengers, they had been driven to +take shelter on the lower deck right aft, and were therefore entirely +invisible. Joe accosted Jim and Claude, the two young fellows who were +his cabin companions, and, whispering to them, sent them over to Sam. +In the course of some ten minutes he had selected a couple of dozen +young fellows, all of whom he had chatted with at various times during +the past two days. That, indeed, is one of the curious results of +travel aboard a ship. One becomes acquainted with one's fellow +passengers during the first day; their inner history is often known by +the evening of the second; while, long before the trip is ended, often +enough their innermost thoughts, their ambitions, and their hopes are +the property of one or other of the many friends they have made on +board. In any case, Joe was the sort of lad who makes friends quickly. +Free from that stupid side which sometimes afflicts the youth of this +and other countries, he had a welcoming smile for everyone, and was +ready to exchange his views with Dick, Tom, or Harry. It was not +remarkable, therefore, that he had already become acquainted with a +number of young fellows, bachelors like himself. + +"I'll choose them in preference to the married men," he told himself. +"The latter have pluck and dash enough, I know; but they have wives and +children, and their services will be required by the families. Hi, +Bill!" he called to another of his chums, beckoning him, "volunteers +are likely to be wanted to help the sailors. Are you----" + +"Right!" declared the man abruptly. + +"Then get across to Sam Fennick; he's away over there at the rail. +Just go on smoking as if nothing out of the way were happening. Got a +good-sized handkerchief in your pocket?" + +"No, no; I ain't got that," admitted Bill, after hunting about his +person. + +"Then get off to the cabin steward, or to the purser, if you can find +him, and ask for three dozen towels. We can easily get a bucket of +water up on deck, and that will give us the right thing to put round +our mouths." + +It was perhaps five minutes later when Joe went sauntering back to Sam. +Quite a couple of dozen men had already congregated about him, and +stood for the most part lolling against the rail and smoking +contentedly; but there was not one who was not watching the smoke +issuing from the hatchway critically. + +"Seems to me as there's more of it, and it's kinder hotter," said Sam, +almost in a whisper, as Joe came to his side. "Well, you've got the +boys together, and the right sort too. Now, if I'd been asked, I'd +have been flummoxed from the very beginning, and as like as not I'd +have chosen the wrong sort." + +"They're all single men," answered Joe. "Married men will be wanted to +set an example of coolness to the passengers and allay their fears. +Has that officer come along again? Ah, here's Bill! Well?" he +demanded, as the latter came over to him with a bundle beneath his arm. + +"Got 'em easy," panted the latter. "A steward gave 'em to me right +off. Now?" + +He asked the question in excited tones and in a loud voice. + +"Keep cool, and don't speak too loud," Joe cautioned him. "We want a +bucket of fresh water. Who'll get it?" + +Jim went off promptly, and when he returned some three minutes later it +was to meet the officer coming towards the group. + +"Ah," said the latter, singling Joe out, "you're the young fellow that +spoke about volunteers. Well, now, the skipper says that he'd be glad +of 'em, but they must be carefully selected--single men only, you know." + +"How'll these do then, mate?" asked Sam, swinging his open palm round +so as to embrace the little band of men Joe had selected. "This here +young chap"--and he pointed to our hero--"seems to have the right ideas +always tucked away at the back of that head of his. You'd no sooner +gone than he was away selecting his men. Every one of 'em single, too, +'cos he says as the married 'uns must be calm, and set all the rest an +example. And he's got towels for every man, and a bucket o' water here +to soak 'em in. Spry, ain't it?" + +For perhaps a whole minute the officer looked Joe coolly up and down. +Indeed, at any other time his open inspection might have been +interpreted as a rudeness. But there was something more than mere +curiosity in his eye. He stretched out a hand sailor fashion and +gripped our hero's. + +"You're young," he said bluntly, "but you've the right sort of pluck, +and a headpiece with which to back it. Bring your men along; I like +the look of 'em. But first to explain. This fire's been going ever +since two in the morning. It's somewhere in a lot of cotton goods +right under a heap of other cargo, and try as we have we can't stifle +it. Nor can we get at it with our sprays. So we're attempting to move +the other stuff, and then we'll pitch what's alight overboard or swamp +it with water from the hoses. It's the smoke that's the trouble. You +come right along." + +He led the way to the hatchway, Joe and his men following, while almost +at once a crowd of steerage passengers massed themselves along the rail +which cut them off from that part of the deck, and detecting the object +of the little band, and realizing that they were volunteers, sent up a +hoarse cheer of encouragement. + +"Just you skipper the lot, youngster," said the officer, turning when +close to the hatchway. "Keep those not at work below well to windward, +then they'll be able to breathe easily. You can see that the skipper's +put his helm over, so as to blow the smoke more abeam, for the people +aft could hardly breathe. Now, you come down with me and I'll show you +what's wanted; then you can set your men to at it." + +Joe damped a towel in the bucket of water and tied it round his mouth +and nose. Then he followed the officer over the edge of the hatchway, +and gripping the iron ladder which descended vertically, soon found +himself standing some thirty feet below on a pile of huge boxes. + +"Machinery, and heavy stuff too," said the officer, taking him across +to a part where there was little smoke. "Now, you can see for yourself +whereabouts the fire is. The smoke tells you. Ah! there's another man +done for!" + +Joe's surroundings were indeed sufficient to cause more than the usual +interest, for the scene was filled with movement. Overhead the square +of the open hatchway framed a beautiful if confined area of blue sky, +across which a few white clouds were scudding. But it was not always +that one could see this view, for huge columns of smoke issued from the +hold in front of him and went swirling up, to cease entirely at moments +and then to gush forth again, for all the world as if someone were +stationed in the depths amongst the cargo and were using a gigantic +bellows. For the rest, a couple of huge reflectors threw the light +from a number of electric bulbs into the hold, though without any +seeming effect, for the dense smoke made the darkness almost +impenetrable. Here and there a man rested well to one side, his mouth +bound up with a handkerchief, while deeper in, entirely invisible, were +other men. One heard a shout now and again and the clatter of moving +boxes. Overhead, too, dangled a rope swinging from a derrick. It was +at the precise moment when Joe's quick eye had gathered these details, +that a couple of men came into sight staggering across the boxes and +bearing a man between them. + +"Dropped like a rabbit, he did," gasped one of them, as they placed the +man on his back on one of the boxes. "Went down jest as if he'd been +shot. Above there! Lower away." + +A head appeared in the opening of the hatchway, while a second later a +cloud of smoke shot upward, hiding the head and setting the owner +coughing. But the derrick above swung over promptly, and the rope +descended. + +"You two men get to one side and rest," said the officer. "I and this +friend here will see to the man. Now," he went on swiftly, "lend a +hand while I pass the rope round this poor chap. That's the way. Now +steady him while I go aloft. You'll get your men down as you want 'em." + +He had already spoken to an officer on duty down below, and now went +clambering upward. A moment later Joe was guiding the unconscious body +of the sailor as he was hoisted upward. Then, cramming the towel close +round his nose and mouth, he dived into the clouds of smoke till, aided +by the electric light, he saw an officer. + +"Shall I bring some of the men down now, sir?" he asked. "I've two +dozen up above, all ready to lend a hand. I thought it would be best +to employ them in two batches." + +The officer, a young man of some twenty-five years of age, rose from +the box he was helping to lift, coughed violently, and then accompanied +Joe back to the part directly under the hatchway. + +"My word," he gasped, when at length a violent attack of coughing had +subsided and allowed him to speak, "we'll be glad to have you. That's +hot work in there. You've two dozen, you say? Then bring along half +of them; they'll be mighty useful." + +Joe went swarming upward at once and, arriving on the deck, promptly +told off twelve of the men. He was down again with them within a few +seconds, at once leading them forward to where the work was in progress. + +"That you?" asked the officer, peering at him through the smoke and +coughing. "Then get to at these boxes. We're pulling them aside, and +till we've got a heap more away we shan't be able to reach the spot +where there's fire. When we do, things won't be so easy. There'll be +a burst of smoke and flames, I should imagine." + +"Then we'd better have the other half of this gang ready with sacks and +blankets damped with water," cried Joe. "A hose wouldn't stop the +fire, and the water would do a heap of damage. Eh?" + +"You're the boy!" gasped the officer. "That's an idea; will you see to +it?" + +Joe nodded promptly, and then set his gang to work to help the sailors +already employed in moving the cargo. Dashing away as soon as he saw +that they understood what was required of them, he swarmed up to the +top of the hatchway and called loudly to one of the gang above. + +"Find one of the officers if you can, or, better still," he said, "go +along to the purser. Ask for twenty or thirty old blankets. Take a +mate or two with you and bring the lot along here; then swamp them with +water. When you've got them ready have them slung down into the hold. +You've followed?" + +The young fellow nodded eagerly. "Got it pat," he declared, swinging +round. "I'll be back inside ten minutes." + +Joe slid down below without further waiting, and, joining his men, +attacked the cargo with energy. Half an hour later, perhaps, after a +bulky parcel wrapped in matting had been dragged from its place, a +sudden burst of smoke drove the workers backward. It was followed by a +hot blast of air and then by tongues of flame. + +"Looks bad," declared the officer, rising to his feet from the box on +which he had been seated; for he was taking a well-earned rest. +"There's stuff below there that's well alight. Look at that! There's +smoke and flames for you." + +"And we'll need to drown the fire at once," cried Joe. "I'll bring the +other gang down and set them to fight it." + +Once more he clambered over the boxes from the dark depths of the hold +and, gaining the open space beneath the hatchway, shouted loudly. At +once a head appeared, and another call brought the second half of his +gang tumbling downward. + +"Each of you take one of the damped blankets," said Joe, standing +beside them. "See that the towels are well over your mouths and noses, +and then follow me. We've got to the seat of the fire, and have to do +our best to damp it out. Now, follow one after the other." + +Seizing a blanket himself, he led the way till within twenty feet of +the spot where the last bale had been torn out of its position. The +workers whom he had left had been driven backward to that point, and +were crouching down with their heads as low as possible, coughing and +choking as dense masses of smoke swept about them. Joe saw red tongues +of flame, and at once, without hesitation, advanced on the spot, +holding the blanket before him. But if he imagined he had an easy +task, he was quickly to learn that he was mistaken. The choking clouds +of pungent smoke which swelled past him and hid him from the men was +the least part of the difficulty. It was the heat which threatened to +defeat his efforts. For a hot blast surrounded him. He felt of a +sudden as if he had plunged into a furnace, while his nostrils burned +as if he were inhaling flames. Then the blanket, in spite of its +soaking, steamed heavily and began to shrivel. + +"Forward!" Joe commanded himself. "This is not the time to give back. +Push on and get your blanket down right on the spot where the cargo is +alight." + +Pulling himself together, as it were, and summoning all his energies, +Joe dashed forward over the uneven flooring, the heat wave about him +increasing in intensity. A gust of hot air, an intensely burning +breath gripped him, while lurid flames swept past him on either hand. +Even the wetted blanket showed signs of giving way before such an +ordeal, for one corner curled upward and then burst into flame. But +Joe was a stubborn fellow. He was not the one to be beaten when so +near the goal, and half stifled and roasted he pushed on, cast his +blanket over a spot which appeared to be white with heat, and trod it +down manfully. He retreated then as fast as he could, followed by a +dense smoke which made breathing impossible. + +"Next!" he shouted, when he could speak. "Don't stop. We must pile +the blankets on as thick as possible." + +It says much for the courage of those steerage passengers that not one +of the volunteers hesitated. Helped by the members of the crew, to +whose aid they had come, they rushed forward pell-mell, casting the +wetted blankets over Joe's; then, having trodden them down, they +retreated before the dense smoke which drove them out. They sat in +groups and anyhow, gasping beneath the open hatchway, some of them even +having to beat the fire from their clothes. + +"We've fixed that fire, I think," gasped the officer at last, for the +smoke seemed to be less intense. "If so, it's the luckiest thing I've +ever encountered." + +"Wait," cautioned Joe. "That smoke's more pungent. That looks as if +the fire were still burning." + +Five minutes later it was clear that he was right; for flames suddenly +shot out at the gang of workers, scorching their hair and driving them +backward. Nor was it possible to advance again with wetted blankets. +For an hour the gallant workers struggled to subdue the blaze by +throwing water from a couple of hoses into the hold. But that effort +too proved useless. It was clear that the fire had got beyond control, +and that the safety of the passengers depended on the ship reaching a +port very soon, or coming in with another vessel. Then, and then only, +did the news circulate that Franc, the young Marconi operator and Joe's +friend, had been placed out of action. + +"It's just broken up our chances," groaned the officer who had been +working beside our hero. "That fellow has been calling for four or +five hours so as to get in touch with another vessel. But there was +none within reach fitted with the Marconi apparatus. Now he's fallen +down the gangway, and lies in the doctor's quarters with one leg broken +and himself unconscious. It's a regular bad business." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Joe Gathers Credit + +"All passengers come aft," shouted the captain as Joe and his gang, +together with the sailors, clambered out of the reek of heat and smoke +and ascended from the hold. "All passengers must collect their +belongings at once and come aft of the bridge. Be quick, please; we +can allow only ten minutes." + +Blackened and singed by the heat, with their clothing scorched and +actually burned in some places, Joe and his helpers came up through the +hatchway and almost fell upon the deck, for they were exhausted after +their long fight in a stifling atmosphere. Then the hatches were +thrown on and wedged down. + +"We've got to leave things like that," said the officer to whom Joe had +first of all suggested that volunteers should be called for. "We shall +turn on the steam sprayers and hope that they, together with the want +of air, will kill the fire. You've done well, young fellow. The +captain's been asking for your name. But just you hop along right away +and gather your traps, else you'll lose everything." + +In a little while it began to look as if our hero might lose even more +than his belongings, or rather that the loss of his kit would be of +little moment to him; for the fire in the hold, which perhaps had been +little more than smouldering before, now blazed out with redoubled +fury. Indeed, it was not long after the steerage passengers had gone +scampering aft, dragging their children and their belongings with them, +that the deck right for'ard became almost too hot to walk on, while the +sides of the ship were red-hot. + +"The deck'll fall in soon if this goes on," said the same officer, +accosting Joe as he came aft. "I've known a steamer afire keep moving +till she reached port, and then she was red-hot from end to end. But +we've a steel bulkhead just on a level with the bridge, and I guess +that's keeping the blaze forward. So it'll be the fo'c'sle that'll be +burned out, and that deck'll fall in before long. Then the blaze'll +become worse. You fellows were grand; you did your best for us. Now +you come along to the captain." + +They found that anxious officer striding up and down the bridge, as if +there were nothing to disturb him. But there were perhaps a thousand +eyes upon this chief officer of the vessel, and, knowing that, he set +an example of wonderful sangfroid. + +"I thank you greatly," he said, as the officer brought Joe on to the +bridge. "Mr. Henry has told me how you raised volunteers, and likely +volunteers too, and Mr. Balance has reported how well all behaved. I +thank you, sir, in the name of the ship's owners and her crew and +passengers. It's a nasty business." + +"Thank you, sir," answered Joe, blushing at the receipt of such praise. +"I was wondering whether I could be of further service." + +"Eh? Why, yes; but how?" asked the captain. + +"I was thinking of your Marconi operator, sir." + +"Eh? Ah, poor chap! That's the most unfortunate thing that could have +happened. But--I don't quite follow," said the captain, looking +closely at Joe. + +"Only I knew him well, sir, and often worked with him. I've frequently +sent a Marconi message. There's no great difficulty if you are fond of +mechanical things and have learned the code. I worked hard at it, as I +thought once of going into the Marconi service." + +"The deuce you did!" came the sharp answer, while the skipper of this +huge ship, with so much responsibility on his shoulders, turned a deep +red colour beneath his tan and whistled shrilly. "You can--but you +don't mean to tell me that you could handle his apparatus, that you +could call up and talk with a ship if she happened to be within reach +of us?" + +"Let me see the things and I'll soon tell you," said Joe quietly, +feeling nevertheless somewhat nervous lest his recent lack of +experience should have resulted in forgetfulness. For it must be +remembered that although a code such as is used by Marconi and other +telegraphic operators becomes second nature, and is as easy to them as +is writing to the average individual, yet such codes with want of +practice soon become forgotten. Joe might have forgotten; want of +practice might have stiffened his wrist. His "transmitting" powers +might be now so cramped and slow, that an operator "receiving" aboard +some other ship would not pick up his message; also, the converse might +well be the case. His ear, unaccustomed now for some little while to +the familiar sounds so particular to a telegraph instrument, might fail +to pick out the meaning of dot and dash coming across the waves of +ether so rapidly. + +"Let me have a look into the office and also a talk with Franc. He'll +tell me what is the company's usual call. I'm not so cocksure of being +able to send and receive for you, sir; but I can try, and I think I'll +succeed." + +"That's fifty times better than being dead sure and failing miserably," +cried the captain. "I'd sooner by a lot have a fellow tell me he'd +try, than go off full of assurance and conceit. Of course you can see +the operator. But he's hurt badly; they tell me he was stunned. Take +him along, Mr. Henry." + +It was a fortunate thing for the passengers aboard the vessel that Joe +found his friend able to speak and understand. Indeed, the unfortunate +Franc was fuming and fretting on account of the injury that had come to +him; not because of the damage he had suffered, or of the pain, which +was considerable, but because of his helplessness and the ship's dire +need help. He raised his head as Joe entered, then called out gladly. + +"Why, I'd forgotten you entirely, Joe!" he almost shouted. "I might +have remembered that you knew the code and had worked the +'transmitter'. Get right along to the office and call up help. We +want a ship to come over and take off the passengers, and then stand by +while we run on into port. Here, I'll give you the company's call." + +A few minutes with his friend told Joe sufficient to send him along to +the Marconi office full of assurance, and within a quarter of an hour +the apparatus, silent since Franc came by his damage, was flicking and +clicking again, causing a thousand and more anxious pairs of eyes to be +cast upward at the raking masts and at the web of wires suspended +between them. + +"There's an answer," he told Mr. Henry, when he had sent the call +across the water on a dozen and more occasions. "Wait till I can say +who it is. What am I to tell them about our position?" + +The officer at once wrote down the ship's approximate position on a +piece of paper, while Joe tapped on the key and listened to the +receiver. + +"Tell 'em we've fire in number one hold, and are almost roasted," he +said. "Ask 'em to come along and take off our passengers, unless she +happens to be steering the same course, when, if she'll run on beside +us, there may not be need to transfer the passengers. Ah, she's +calling you." + +Rapidly did Joe get accustomed to the apparatus. No doubt he could +neither send nor receive a message at the same rate as his injured +friend; but if the messages were slow and laboured, and not always too +correct, they were accurate enough for his purpose. Indeed, it was not +long before he was able to send a long dispatch to the captain. + +"S.S. _Kansas City_ answered us," he wrote. "She's steering +west-north-west, and on a line to intercept us. Doing fifteen knots +and a little better. She's a hundred miles away, and will look out for +us. She sends that she's bound for Halifax." + +"That'll suit well," said Mr. Henry, coming back from the bridge and +the captain. "She ought to fall into company with us about midnight or +early in the morning, and, of course, if there's need, we can slow down +or stop altogether, while she turns north and runs direct up to us. +But we can see this thing through till morning. By then the +fo'c'sle'll be little better than an ash heap. It'll be a case of +clearing the passengers and then fighting the flames, or the ship'll go +to the bottom. See over here; it's worth looking at, if only to +remember." + +He took Joe out of the office to the rail of the vessel and then drew +his attention to the steel plates for'ard. If they had been of a dull +red heat before, they were now of a bright redness, while flames were +actually issuing from some of the lower portholes. As for the deck, it +was a smouldering mass of blackness, to which a thin cloud of smoke +clung tenaciously. + +"You'd want thick boots on to walk across it," said Mr. Henry, "and +then you'd never know when it might fall in and take you into a +furnace. I tell you, a fire aboard ship is almost as bad as one in the +forests of Canada. Ever heard tell of them?" + +"Never," replied Joe, shaking his head. + +"Then they're bad, real bad, and you've to move quick if you want to +live through one. Now aboard a ship you can batten things down, just +as we've done; or you can rouse up some of the cargo, get a hold of the +stuff that's alight, and heave it into the water. That's what we tried +and failed to do. Now there's nothing more but to wait till we join +company with the _Kansas City_. Reckon there's a crowd of people will +be glad to say goodbye to this vessel." + +A saunter between decks proved that rapidly to our hero. Not that +there was any great alarm or any marked sign of uneasiness. People +congregated in little bunches; men stood lounging and smoking together, +talking in eager, low voices. Here and there a woman was weeping; but +there were few who showed less courage than the men, and, indeed, not a +few displayed noble devotion. + +"How's things going?" asked Sam, accosting our hero and whispering his +question. "They tell me you've been up with the captain and have been +working the Marconi office. You'll come in for something, me lad. +Guess the skipper of this ship did a lucky thing when he booked you as +a passenger. But what's happening?" + +Joe told him in a few words. "We've got into contact with another +ship," he said. + +"Which means that you have," answered Sam, catching him up abruptly. +"Give things their right names, lad. But there, I've seen it with you +afore. It's jest like Joe Bradley to leave himself out of the +question. So you've got talking with another vessel?" + +"The _Kansas City_," Joe explained. "She's steering a course south of +us and almost parallel. She's coming north a little of her course, and +should reach us early in the morning. If need be, and we cut off +steam, she could come due north and get alongside before midnight even." + +"Then that's a bit of news that'll help people," said Sam, satisfaction +in his voice. "I'll go and tell folks about here. Truth is, there's a +few got the jumps bad, but we've give 'em a lesson. Jim and Claude and +me, when we all came aft, saw that one or more of them foreigners was +likely to prove troublesome. We found some of 'em packing their kit in +the boats and pushing agin the women; but I fetched one of 'em a smack +that'll make him sit up fer a fortnight, while when a bunch of +'em--low-down rascals, as I should name 'em--got out o' hand and went +howling along towards the officers' quarters with the idea, it seems, +of putting their dirty hands on the skipper and forcing him to quit the +ship and put 'em aboard the boats, why, me and some of the boys you got +together went for the beggars. There was a proper turn-up between us, +and there's a few nursing their heads at this moment; but it jest +settled matters. You see, the best of the foreigners came in and +joined with our party, and what with that and the hiding we gave these +fellows, why, things has quieted down wonderful. Only, of course, +there's anxiety; a chap can't be altogether easy when he's sailing on a +red-hot furnace, with miles of sea about him." + +There was, in fact, wonderful order and coolness displayed on the ship, +and nowhere more than amongst the emigrant passengers. Indeed, all +vied in endeavouring to keep up the courage of the women and to leave +the officers and crew of the vessel to carry out their work unimpeded. +As for Joe, he spent the next few hours in the Marconi office, keeping +in constant touch with the _Kansas City_, and every hour he was able to +report that she was nearer. + +"You'd better send along and ask her to make slick up here," said Mr. +Henry, as darkness closed about them. "Some of the plates for'ard have +burned through, and the air rushing in is making the fire blaze up +terribly. The skipper is going to shut off and lie to. It's the only +way of saving the vessel." + +He handed Joe a written message, which the latter transmitted through +his instrument, reporting in turn that the other ship had now changed +her course and was coming direct toward them. Meanwhile the burning +vessel was brought to a standstill, the throb of her engines ceasing +save for an occasional thrill, as one or other of the screws was +rotated so as to keep the stern always before the wind. The bugles +rang out for tea almost at the accustomed hour, and, to the amazement +of many, the emigrants found food and drink ready for them, but not in +the same quarters. They were now huddled together, without cabins and +without bunks to lie in, except in the case of the women and children, +who, thanks to the unselfishness of the first- and second-class +passengers, were accommodated in the cabins previously occupied by +single gentlemen. + +It was near midnight when at length a loud booming in the distance, and +the turning of a brilliant light upon them, intimated to the people +aboard the burning ship that the _Kansas City_ was within reach of +them. A deep cheer broke from a thousand lips, while many people burst +into tears. Then Joe and his little band were again requisitioned. + +"The captain's compliments," said Mr. Henry, "and he wishes that you +will organize the men again, so that there may be no confusion when +embarking the women. Get double the number this time if you can, and +place them in batches near every boat. The stewards will help, and +between you it ought to follow that there will be no confusion. But +there's never any saying when you have to deal with foreigners." + +"Then Sam's my man this time," thought Joe, going in search of that +worthy. "If between us, as Mr. Henry says, we can't keep order, why, +what's the use of us at all? Ah, there he is! Sam!" he called loudly. + +"Going to tranship us?" asked the latter. + +"Yes; women and children first. They've asked me to organize double +the number of helpers. Let's call out the old lot. We can select the +others very quickly; a few Russians and Scandinavians amongst them +would help greatly. Ah! There's Jim, and Claude with him. Boys!" he +called, waving to them. + +It may be imagined that the work of selection was not accomplished in a +minute; for with the coming of the relief ship there was huge confusion +amongst the emigrants, as also amongst the first- and second-class +passengers. The courage of many, bravely shown through a number of +trying hours, broke down suddenly. Men, and women too, who had set a +fine example to their fellows, were seen to lose their heads and their +coolness. Passengers dashed to and fro, bumping into any who crossed +their path, while one or two became absolutely violent in their efforts +to push nearer to the spot where the gangway would be lowered. +However, Joe and his friends were soon collected together, and then, +with Sam's help, a body of forty or more was rapidly selected. + +"You tell 'em off; you've the orders and hang of what's wanted," said +Sam, lighting his pipe for perhaps the twentieth time. + +"Then break up into parties of five," said Joe. "Now get along to the +boats, five to each. Don't let a soul enter unless you have the +captain's orders. Sam, you and I will help the stewards; I see that +they are already ranging the women and children into lines. Some of +the poor things look half-distracted." + +The ordeal was indeed a severe one for many on board, and rendered not +a few of the women completely helpless. However, what with the help +that the stewards gave, aided by the stewardesses and Sam and Joe, the +long lines were soon quieted. Then, beneath the flare of huge electric +lamps, the work of transferring women and children to the _Kansas City_ +was conducted, the latter ship lowering her boats for that purpose, +while those aboard the burning vessel were reserved for a future +occasion. + +"Men now," shouted the officer standing at the top of the gangway; and +at the order the men aboard filed slowly downward and were taken off, +till none but the crew, the stewards, and Joe and his gang remained. + +"Now," called Mr. Henry, seeing our hero and his party, "your turn." + +Joe walked directly up to him, with Sam at his side, while the captain +descended from the bridge at that moment and joined them. + +"We volunteer to stay," he said. "We've talked it over. It seems that +now that the passengers are gone, particularly the women and children, +you will tackle the fire again. You will want help for that. We're +game to stay. We'd like to stand by till this job is finished." + +"And, by George, so you shall!" cried the captain, bringing a hand down +on our hero's shoulder and almost flooring him. "By James, sir, so you +shall stand by us! A pluckier lot I never hope to run across, and I've +never seen men better handled. You, sir, Mr. Joe Bradley, I understand +is your name, and this other gentleman whom you call Sam, have behaved +with conspicuous gallantry. I can tell you, gentlemen, it means much +to the officers and crew of a vessel such as this is if, when a pinch +comes, when danger faces them, there are men at hand to quieten the +foolish, to reduce the would-be rioters to subjection, and to fight the +danger side by side with the crew. It means a very great deal. Often +it means the difference between security and disaster. Stay, +gentlemen--we are about to fight those flames again, and you can help +us wonderfully." + +By now the _Kansas City_ had sheered off a little, lying to some three +or four hundred yards from the blazing vessel, which presented a truly +awful appearance, for in the darkness her red-hot plates shone +conspicuously. Lurid flames belched from her lowest ports forward, +while at one part, where the plates had burned through, there was a +wide ragged gap through which a veritable furnace was visible. + +"We've got to flood the fo'c'sle," said Mr. Henry, as he stood beside +Sam and our hero. "The carpenter, 'Chips', as we call him, is +hammering up a staging at this moment, and when that's popped into a +boat a man will be able to reach that opening where the plates have +gone. We couldn't do it by lowering a seaman over the side, for the +simple reason that the deck away for'ard is far too hot to allow anyone +to walk on it. So we shall try from the sea. At the same time, we +shall pull off the hatches and pour water in amongst the stores till +they're flooded. You come along to the hatchway. It's not likely that +we'll be able to go down. But later on, if we're fortunate, we might +be able to do so, and so get closer to the fire." + +Working without confusion, and indeed in no apparent haste, the crew +soon pulled the hatches off the hatchway. Meanwhile a pinnace had been +lowered, and into her the carpenter had built a species of platform +raised some ten feet above the thwarts. Peeping over the side, Joe saw +that there was a crew already aboard her, while men were paying out a +ship's hose over the rail, where there was no heat and therefore no +danger of the hose burning. In a little while two lusty fellows were +perched on the top of the staging, and, operating the nozzle of the +hose together, were directing a stream of water in through the ragged +gap which existed for'ard, and which we have already mentioned. By +then, too, Joe and his friends had contrived to get three hoses going +through the hatchway, though their efforts seemed to be little rewarded. + +"We're not reaching the actual seat of the fire, and the place is so +huge that even a flood of water fails to swamp the flames," said Joe, +as Mr. Henry came along to see how they were progressing. "There's one +thing helping us, and that is the absence of smoke. I suppose the +stuff which sent out that pungent smoke has got burned, and there is no +more of it." + +"Shouldn't wonder," came the answer. "As to reaching the fire, you +must just keep at it. This hatchway is too hot yet to allow a man to +clamber down the ladder." + +It was decidedly hot, for when Joe put his hand on the iron ridge which +surrounded the open hatch he withdrew it with a sharp cry. Indeed, the +metal was almost red-hot, while a fiery heat as from a furnace +ascended, cooled a little perhaps by the sprays of water sousing in +from the hoses. + +"I believe a fellow could reach the fire if only he could get below +there and bear the heat," said Joe, perhaps half an hour later. "Look +here, Sam, I'm going to make an effort. I'll tie a noose in the rope +from the derrick, sit in it, and then get lowered. The men can play a +hose on me while I'm descending, and even when I'm down below. Let's +see if I can bear it." + +A shout from Sam brought Mr. Henry, and an order from the latter soon +secured a long length of steel cable with strong electric lamps at the +end of it. At his suggestion this was made fast to the wire rope, in +which a wooden seat was fastened. Then Joe stepped into the noose, +gripped the rope and the hose, and called on the engineman to lower +slowly. + +"You don't need to trouble about the electric lights," called out Mr. +Henry. "They're well insulated and perfectly watertight. The only +thing that will damage the cable is the heat. Raise your arm if it's +too great for you. We'll haul you up in a jiffy." + +Out swung the rope, and Joe with it. For a while he was dangled well +above the open hatchway, with a sheer fall of forty feet beneath him, +and a glowing furnace somewhere in the hold for'ard. Whisps of smoke +curled up about him, while the heat was almost stifling, but not so +severe as it had been when he and his helpers had attacked the flames +at closer quarters. + +[Illustration: JOE ATTACKS THE FIRE AT CLOSE QUARTERS] + +"Lower away," he shouted, and then nodded to Sam to turn his hose on +him. "Keep the water going, and start my hose," he called to those at +the edge of the hatchway. "Now, slowly does it." + +Very gently the engineman slacked out the rope running over the top of +the derrick, causing Joe to slowly disappear within the open mouth of +the hatchway. Meanwhile those in charge of the hoses paid the one out +which Joe carried, and Sam, as if he were bent on doing his young +friend an injury, sent a stream of water squirting against our hero +till the latter was drenched, and till the force of the impact of the +stream caused him to sway and twist at the end of the sling. + +"Steady!" he shouted. "Less water; you'll drown me!" and, obedient to +the order, Sam shouted to the men and saw that the stream was reduced. +He sent a cascade downward now, for Joe had descended still lower, +causing the water to fall on his shoulders and then go tumbling and +hissing to the floor beneath. And, thanks to this deluge, and to the +water spouting from the hose he carried, Joe was able to prepare the +way before him. He could hear the fluid actually hissing, and see it +rising in thick clouds of steam as it fell on iron and woodwork. It +bubbled as it tumbled in a heavy cascade on huge masses of +tightly-packed machinery directly beneath him, and then it began to +settle into quiet pools. + +"Steady!" he shouted again. "Hold on till things get a little cooler." + +But ten minutes later he called to them to lower away, and in a little +while had stepped from the sling and was actually advancing into the +hold. A sailor joined him, and then Sam, both filled with enthusiasm. +There were five hoses going within the hour, while another was all the +while directing a powerful stream through the gap forward. Smoke gave +way in time to steam, while the clouds of the latter, which had risen +from every heated surface, and particularly from the vessel's plates, +became far less in quantity. When three hours had passed, the +atmosphere in the hold was almost pleasant, and certainly not too hot +for safe working, while the fire appeared to have been conquered +entirely. Then the ship's head was turned towards the west, and once +again her turbines sent the decks throbbing. They came to Sam and Joe +in the bunks which they occupied and told them of it; for the intense +heat which they had faced, the stifling smoke, and the strenuous fight +they had made had had their natural effect. Both had been hoisted from +the hold in an insensible condition. + +"Eh?" asked Sam. "She's right? Fire under? Then call me late in the +morning. I've never yet travelled first class aboard a ship, and this +bunk's just lovely. Hallo! That Joe? Eh? He's unconscious? Well, I +am sorry; guess there's many a one will say he helped a heap to save +this vessel." + +They slept profoundly side by side, and the sun was high in the heavens +before either opened his eyes. When Joe looked round, it was with a +groan of recognition and remembrance. His hands were blistered all +over and in bandages. His face was smeared with some greasy +preparation, while there no longer trace of eyelashes, eyebrows, or +hair. He was bald--a terrible object--with lips and tongue hugely +swollen. + +"My word," exclaimed Sam, staring at him, "what a sight!" + +Joe giggled. After all, however tired, however sore with a struggle, +he could look on the queer side of things. "My eye!" he gurgled, for +speech was almost impossible. "Just you take a look at yourself; it'll +make you feel downright faint, I do assure you." Then he went off into +a laugh, which ended in a cry of pain and tribulation, for cracked and +swollen lips make laughing painful. As for Sam, he rose in his bunk, +leaned outwards, and stared into the mirror. It was with a groan of +resignation that he threw himself backward, for, like Joe, he was +wonderfully disfigured. + +"The wife wouldn't know me," he said. "What a sight! No wonder you +giggled." + +But time does wonders for sore hearts and sore heads. Five days later, +when the ship put into Quebec, both were moderately presentable, though +Joe still had his hands in bandages. But think of the reward! A +thousand and more disembarked passengers from the steamship _Kansas +City_ awaited their arrival and cheered them to the very echo as they +landed. It was Joe's welcome to Canada, the land wherein he trusted to +make his fortune. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +One of the Settlers + +"Now we get right in to business," said Sam, two days after the ship +had brought them to Quebec, and he and Joe had gradually recovered +their usual appearance. For, till then, they were hardly presentable, +both having had every hair singed from their heads, while Sam, who wore +a moustache, as a rule, merely retained a few straggling ends of that +appendage. As for Joe, his hands were so blistered, that even now he +was able to do little for himself. + +"But you've got something inside there in your pocket that'll make +amends," grinned Sam, as they sat in the parlour of the little hotel to +which Sam had taken his wife, and whither Joe, Jim, and Claude had +accompanied them. "You've got notes in that 'ere pocket that'll make +you ready and eager to get burned again. There! Ain't I speaking the +truth? I'm fair jubilant." + +A cockney from his birth upward, Sam had not, even now, lost touch with +the Old Country and its manner of speech, though into his conversation +there was now habitually pressed many a Canadian slang expression, many +an Americanism which to people of the Old World is so peculiarly +fascinating. He pulled a huge leather wallet from his own hip pocket, +a capacious affair that accommodated quite a mass of material, and was +fellow to one on the far side harbouring a revolver. Not that Sam was +of a pugnacious frame of mind; on the contrary, he was just one of the +numerous citizens of Canada whose daily thoughts were centred in +"making good". Indeed, as is the case with all in the Dominion, with +few exceptions, Sam was out, as he frankly admitted, to make a pile, to +build up a fortune. + +"And I'll tell you for why," he had once said to our hero. "It ain't +only because dollars look nice and can buy nice things. It ain't only +because I'd like to be rich, to put by a heap and feel and know that me +and the missus needn't want when the rainy day comes along, and we're +took by illness or old age. Don't you go and believe it. There's +people will tell you that Canadians think and dream of nothing but +dollars, and jest only for the sake of the dollars. Don't you go and +believe it. They're jest like me; they've been, many a one of 'em, +down on their beam ends in the Old Country--couldn't get work, for one +cause or another. Then they've emigrated, fought their way through, +nearly gone to the wall maybe, and then made good. It's making good +that fascinates us, young feller. Making good! Jest that and mostly +only that. I'd be a proud man if I could put by a pile; for, don't yer +see, it shows as I've succeeded. That's what I and many another are +after. We've been failures, perhaps. We want to show the world that +we're good for something. Dollars spells success--that's why we're +after them all the time." + +But Sam was not pugnacious, as we have observed. He dragged his huge +leather case from one hip pocket and his revolver from the other, +laying both on the table. + +"I always carry a shooter," he said to Joe, "and so'll you after a bit. +The usual run of fellow you come across is a decent, hard-working man. +But this here country's full of 'bad men', as we call 'em. +Ne'er-do-weels, remittance men, as some are known, loafers, and +thieves. A chap as shows he's got sommat to defend himself with has a +good chance of sendin' 'em off; so I carry a shooter. But we was +talking of the stuff you'd got in your pocket, same as me. That makes +up for burned hands." + +Very deliberately he began to count out the values of the flimsy, +blue-backed money notes rolled in his wallet, while Joe dived into an +inner pocket and did likewise. He drew out quite a respectable bundle +and counted the amounts also. + +"Two hundred and fifty dollars," said Sam solemnly. "Reward for work +done aboard the burning ship." + +"Seven hundred and fifty dollars," murmured Joe, blushing when he +thought of the amount. + +"Jest so--reward for pluck and fer gumption," declared Sam. "My, +wasn't you bashful up in the office when we was called in! You was for +refusing almost. Said as you'd done nothing. That ain't the way of +Canadians, lad. You did do good work; it was you who organized the +volunteers and led 'em. That's a deal. It ain't nothing! It helped a +whole heap, and therefore a reward was earned. That's the way in +Canada--but let's get to business. What'll you do?" + +"Act on advice you've already given," said Joe, pocketing his money. +"My idea is to learn farming out here, and some day to take up a +quarter section of land. But I'm going to learn the work first. I +couldn't so much as milk a cow at this moment." + +"Jest so," observed Sam dryly. "That's sense, that is. There's +prosperity in this country, as I've told you often enough, but only for +the workers. There's millions of acres, too, and no fear that if you +wait you'll find none left for you. But where men fail is if they come +out ignorant like you and pitch upon a quarter section when they ain't +got the knowledge to choose their country. Their difficulties would +often enough kill a man with farming knowledge; but, bless you! without +even that knowledge, often enough with precious little money, they goes +under almost afore they've had time to look round. So I say it's sound +advice to you to say, 'Learn the farming work first'. Then take up +your quarter section; for you'll be eighteen by then. Now, New +Ontario's booming. Me and the missus will make there and prospect for +a little. A single man can take a hundred acres in New Ontario for +nothing. So can a married man; while, ef he's got a child under +sixteen years of age, he can have two hundred fer the asking. Any more +that's wanted costs two shillings and a halfpenny an acre. Cheap, +ain't it? Wall, now, we comes again to you. You learn farming this +summer. In the winter, get along into the towns and take most any job; +next summer come right along to us. We'll have fixed a location by +then, and you can take up a holding close handy. We'll get Claude and +Jim in too, with one or two others, and we'll run co-operative farms. +That is, instead of each man having a bunch of hosses, we'll keep +enough for all, and help plough each other's holdings. We'll buy seed +in bulk and get it cheaper fer that reason. And we'll sell our stuff +in the same market, making one doing of the transport--so you come +along next summer." + +"I will," agreed Joe. "I've thought it over a lot, and will do as you +advise; meanwhile, I shall bank most of the money." + +"And mighty wise of you; only, see here," said Sam, his face wrinkling. +"There's money to be made often enough by a wise fellow if only he has +a little capital. With the sixty pounds you brought along, and the +hundred and fifty you've been given, you've a tidy nest egg. Now you +bank most of it, keeping twenty pounds for emergencies. One of these +days, along where you're working, you'll drop on a site where the +railway's approaching, and where there's likely to be a town. Towns +spring up in new countries like mushrooms. Acres bare now, and worth +perhaps two shillings, are worth twenty and thirty and more pounds in +English money within a few years if they gets covered by a town. So, +likely enough, you may drop on sich a place. Then draw the money +you've banked, buy your land, and sit down to wait. Only, don't put +all the money into one holding. Spread it about, young fellow. Don't +put all the eggs into one basket." + +There was little doubt that Sam was perfectly right, indeed, the +experience of huge numbers in the Dominion goes to prove that. Towns +do spring into being almost with the rapidity of mushrooms. A tiny +settlement composed of wooden huts, called "shacks", and perhaps a log +church, may, in the matter of three or four years, develop into a town, +and, later on, even into a city. Those with knowledge and experience, +and possessed of far-seeing eyes, may, by a fortunate purchase in the +early days reap a big reward, and many a one has done so. + +"So that's fixed," said Sam. "And now fer orders. We leaves here +to-morrow fer Sudbury--that's beyond Ottawa. There me and the missus +gets off the train. We'll buy a "rig", as a cart and horse are known, +and we'll make off to the north-west looking fer a holding. You'd +better come along with us to Montreal, where you can switch off fer +Toronto, and look out in that direction fer a farm job, or you can come +right along to or beyond Sudbury. Round Toronto you get Old Ontario, +the country that's been known and settled this many a year. They're +mostly fruit and dairy farmers about Toronto. North-west Ontario, New +Ontario as it's called, is a different country. People kinder missed +it till lately. It wasn't known that it was jest as good as many +another, and no colder. But it's booming now, and there's where you'll +find heaps of men jest wheat-growing. You could, of course, go right +along to Manitoba, getting off at Winnipeg or somewheres close. But +it's wheat-growing land there also; so ef you're going to join up with +us later on you might jest as well stay somewheres near in Ontario." + +Joe put on his cap and went out for a sharp walk. He clambered up the +steep, old-fashioned streets of Quebec, still preserving their old +French houses, to the Plains of Abraham, once the scene of a fierce +engagement between English and French, when the gallant Wolfe won +Canada for our Empire from the equally gallant Montcalm. He looked out +from the heights across the flowing St. Lawrence River to the Isle +d'Orleans, where Wolfe's batteries once thundered against the forts of +Quebec, and past which the fierce Irroquois Indians, in days long since +gone by, paddled their war canoes and kept the French colonists from +crossing. And all the while he debated his future movements, for with +the practical mind that his father had helped to train in him, Joe +wanted to see his way clear. He had his future to make; a false step +now might delay that success at which he aimed, at which, according to +the worthy Sam, all newcomers and old colonists of the Dominion aim. +Let those who would sneer at the seemingly grasping methods of many in +Canada not forget what Sam had to say. Dollars do not spell happiness; +they spell success. The immigrant who has few, if any to speak of, on +arrival, and who fails to make wealth, is a failure, and failure causes +a man to become despondent and to lose self-esteem. But gain, riches +to one who was poor, who broke from old paths, left home and friends +and all to start a new life, dollars in his case spell success, success +that raises his head and his own self-esteem. + +"I'll go along to Sudbury," Joe told himself. "Then I'll look out for +a farm, and I'll bank all the money save fifty dollars. That's it; pay +for my transport, and then bank all but fifty dollars, keeping father's +letter with me." + +The following morning found our hero aboard the train bound for +Sudbury. They occupied places in a long car with two rows of seats, +one on either side. At the far end of the car there was a miniature +kitchen, where a fire was burning in a stove. Others who had crossed +from England were with them, and the party soon settled down to their +journey. Mrs. Fennick, with experience gained by earlier travel, had +provisioned a basket, and with the help of Joe's kit, containing kettle +and teapot, the little party were never at a want for good things to +eat and drink. At night the seats, which were arranged in pairs facing +one another were pulled out, making a respectable couch for one person, +while the negro attendant lowered other bunks hinged to the side walls +of the enormous car high overhead. + +Late the following day the train pulled up at Sudbury, and they got +down. Then Joe, Claude, and Jim waited till the Fennicks had bought a +rig and had set out on their journey, when they, too, shouldered their +bundles and strode off along the track, out of the town and into the +open country. An hour or more later his two companions had accepted an +engagement with a farmer whom they met driving along the track. Joe +bade farewell to his two chums and strode onward. + +"I'll make away more into the open," he told himself. "I'll get away +from the settlements, so as to see what the life is really like, and +whether the loneliness is so irksome as some make out." + +Trudging along contentedly, he had covered some miles by noon, and then +sat down to devour his luncheon. All that day he tramped, and the +following one also, spending the night in the open; for it was +beautiful weather, and frosts had long since departed from the land. +Here and there he came upon settlements, and many a time was employment +offered him, for the busy season with farmers was at hand, and labour +always scarce. Sometimes he passed isolated farms, and on the third +night put up in the shack of a settler who had little cause to complain +of his progress. + +"Came out as a youngster," he told Joe. "Took jobs here and there for +four years, and then applied for a quarter section. It happened to be +free from trees, though there was many an old rotting stump in the +ground. I ploughed a quarter of the acreage the first year and secured +a fine crop. Next year I did better, and broke up still more ground. +If things go along nicely I shall do well, while already the section is +worth some hundreds of dollars. Am I lonely? Don't you think it! +I've too much doing in summertime and sufficient in winter. The chaps +as is lonely are those who've lived in towns all their lives, and are +used to people buzzing about them, and to trains and trams. They want +to go to a theatre or a picture entertainment most every night, and +having none about find things lonesome. I don't. If I want company I +get the rig and drive off to a neighbour, or use the sleigh if the +snow's too deep. Then there's a moose hunt at times, while always +there's work to be done--tending the cattle, feeding the pigs and +poultry, sawing logs, and suchlike. In summer there's picnics with the +neighbours--shooting and fishing too at times. No, I ain't lonely." + +Joe left his hospitable roof and pressed on towards the north-west, +with his back to the railway. And a little later he came upon a small +settlement, with farms immediately adjacent. Here he had no difficulty +in obtaining work as a farm hand, the payment to be ten dollars a month +and his board and keep. + +"Know anything?" asked his employer, a man of some forty years of age, +a colonial born, to whom Joe soon took a liking. + +"Know anything about farming?" repeated Peter Strike, the man in +question. + +"Nothing," was Joe's answer, with an accompanying shake of the head. + +"Never farmed, eh?" + +"Never; couldn't milk a cow." + +"Yer don't say so," grinned the farmer. "Now you'll do, you will, +fine." + +Joe was at a loss to understand. It seemed somewhat curious to him to +hear that a hand engaged on a farm would do well when it was known that +he was utterly ignorant. He explained the difficulty. + +"Of course you don't understand," said Peter, guffawing loudly; for +Joe's open speaking delighted him. "Of course you don't, 'cos back in +England a man would be expected to know everything. But I'll tell you +how it is with us. You're English; wall, now, in past years Englishmen +got such a name with us colonials that we wouldn't employ him if we +could help it. Eh? You'd like to know why? That's easy. Your +Englishman would reach here dressed in knickers, perhaps--a regular +swell. Us colonials with our old clothing would be fair game for him. +Then he'd know everything. He'd be wanting to do things as he'd done +'em back in his own country, and not as we've learned they has to be +done here. He'd want to teach his master, and grumble--my word, +nothing pleased him! Now that's all getting altered. We find +immigrants readier to learn, and you're one of 'em. Mind you, there's +faults with others besides the Englishman who knows everything. +There's faults with us. There's a sight of colonials who think they +know more than they do, and when they get having advice from a man +fresh out to the country--why, they get testy. It makes 'em angry. +They ain't too fair to the newcomer. But guess that's getting altered, +as I've said. Anyway, you don't know anything, ain't that it?" + +"Nothing," laughed Joe; for the open-hearted Peter amused him. + +"Then you come along in and see the missus and the children. +Afterwards there's a job for you." + +Joe was introduced to Peter's family circle, consisting of his wife and +four small children. He found the shack to contain three rooms, a +somewhat liberal allowance. + +"Most of 'em has but one or two," explained Peter. "A man who has to +be his own house builder can't afford too much time for fixing rooms. +However, I made two, the kitchen here and the bedroom. Later on I +built a lean-to, making an extra room. That'll be for you. Now we'll +feed. Like beans and bacon?" + +"Anything," said Joe heartily. "I've had a long tramp and am hungry. +This fine air gives one an appetite." + +"It's jest the healthiest place you could strike anywhere," cried +Peter, his face glowing. "We've been here this four years. I bought +the section from a man who had broken most of it and then got tired. +You see, we've prairie all round, save for the settlement close handy. +They say that the railway'll soon be along here. Anyway, there's no +muskegs (swamps) hereabouts, and therefore no mosquitoes to speak of." + +"He don't know what's a muskeg," laughed Mrs. Strike. "Tell him." + +"It's a swamp, that's all," came the answer, "and there's miles of them +in Canada. Often enough they're covered with low bush and with forests +of rotting trees that ain't worth nothing as timber. But here we've +open prairie, with plenty of wood, and huge forests at a little +distance; so it's healthy. Now, you come along out and fix this job," +he said, when Joe had finished the meal and had swallowed a cup of tea. +"I'm so busy I haven't had time to see to a number of things, specially +since my man was taken ill and left. There's the pigsty, for instance; +it wants cleaning out. You jest get in at it." + +Joe had long since donned his colonial outfit. He wore a slouch hat, +with which no one could find a fault save for its obvious newness. An +old pair of trousers covered his legs, and thick, nailed boots were on +his feet. His jacket he had carried over his arm, and it was now +reposing with his baggage, while a thick brown shirt and a somewhat +discoloured red handkerchief completed his apparel. He followed Peter +to an outhouse, and found at the back a range of wooden pigsties which +might, with truth, be said to be in an extremely unsavoury condition. +There was a fork and a spade near at hand, together with an old tin +bucket. + +"Right," he said briskly, turning up the ends of his trousers; "I'll +make a job of it. I should say that a chap who had no knowledge of +farming could do this as well as any other. I'll come along when I've +finished." + +Peter stood watching his new hand for some few moments, and then strode +off out of sight. Joe turned his sleeves up, climbed into the sty, and +set to work with a will. + +"Not an overnice job," he told himself, "but then it's part of farming +work. If I turn up my nose at this sort of thing and think myself too +good for it--why, that would be a nice sort of beginning! Someone has +to clean the sties on a farm. I'm the labourer, and so it's my job." + +His jovial whistle could be heard in the shack as he worked, and +brought Mrs. Strike to the door with an infant in her arms. + +"Why, it's the new hand," she told her husband. "He's whistling, as if +he liked the job you'd given him. Now I think that was a little hard. +You can see as Joe's a better sort of lad. He's had an education, and +I wouldn't wonder if he was something in the Old Country. And you put +him right off to clean out the sty." + +She regarded her lord and master with some severity; but the latter +only grinned. Peter had a most taking face; in fact, his features were +seldom severe, and more often than not wore a smile. He was a tall, +burly man, with broad shoulders and long limbs. Possessed of fair hair +and of a peaked beard, he was quite a handsome fellow, though +wonderfully neglected as to his raiment. Indeed, contrasting Joe and +Peter, one would have said offhand that the latter was the labourer and +Joe the owner of the property. + +But that is just the curious part of things outside the settlements in +Canada. The more patched a man's garments, the more probable it is +that he is successful. A colonist is not there judged by his fellows +because of his clothing. He is judged by results--results of his +labours on the soil or his astuteness in business. Compare this with +England, where fine clothes make fine birds, where appearance is of so +much importance, and do not let us sneer at either people. Custom has +brought either condition about, and no doubt with good reason. + +As for Peter, he was grinning widely as his wife turned somewhat +sharply upon him. + +"You've given him right off the nastiest job, and he quite green," she +said. + +"And I've done so with a reason," laughed Peter. "There's men I have +hired before who had obviously seen something better back where they +came from. They would have kicked at doing that sty. They would have +forgotten that their old life was nothing to me, and that they were +seeking their living in this country. Their old pride would be too +much for 'em, and I would have to suffer. Now a chap who comes out +here has to drop pride. If he's ignorant, he oughtn't to be above +starting right at the bottom. I like hearing that lad whistling; he +ain't too proud to earn an honest living, even if the job is what it +is." + +"Hallo!" he called, coming over to Joe some half-hour later and looking +into the sty. "How're you doing?" + +"Fine," said our hero, borrowing an expression somewhat common in the +Dominion. "Almost finished." + +"Then you've been mighty slippy," admitted Peter, his eyes opening when +he saw that our hero had indeed almost finished the task. "This lad'll +do for me," Peter said to himself. "He works, he does. He's the kind +of fellow who likes to get ahead, whether he's working for another or +for himself. My, if he ain't washing the place down now!" + +Evidently his new hand was cleanly also, and that was pleasing. Peter +began to think that in gaining Joe's services he had made quite a +bargain. + +"That'll fix it right, lad," he sang out. "You've made a fine job of +it. Jest you hop out now, and put the fork and spade back where you +found 'em. It's yer first lesson in farming and in other things." + +Joe looked up smiling. "Eh?" he said. + +"Yes," went on Peter, "Mrs. Strike's been pitching into me for giving +you such a job first off; but I wanted to see for meself whether you'd +kick, or whether you meant to get on whatever came along. Reckon +you'll do--now come along in and feed the hosses." + +When a month had passed, Joe found another ten dollars added to the +fifty he had kept by him; also he had settled down wonderfully with the +Strikes, and was already getting along with his farm work. + +"He's a treasure is that lad," admitted Mrs. Strike warmly, when she +and her husband were alone one evening. "It don't matter what it is +that's wanted, he'll do it. If it's one of the children to mind, he'll +smile and wink at the bairn. If it's water for the shack, he's +willing. And if it's a log for the stove, he jest takes the saw and +goes off whistling. That lad'll get along in the world." + +"He's fine," agreed Peter. "He's the sort we want out from the Old +Country." + +Whether he was or not, Joe had taken kindly to the new life, without a +shadow of doubt. His attentive mind was constantly absorbing details +from the garrulous Peter or from his neighbours, and the end of that +month's service on the farm had taught him quite a smattering of the +profession he was to follow. As for being lonely, that he certainly +was not; he was almost too busy even to have time for thinking of such +a matter. Then, too, there were neighbours, while each shack actually +possessed a telephone. However, if there were monotony in the life he +was living, it was not long before an exciting incident occurred that +would have aroused anyone even more lethargic than our hero. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Canadian Bad Man + +"You jest put the hosses into the rig and make along to Hurley's," said +Peter, Joe's employer, one early morning when the land was already +ploughed, harrowed, and sown, and there was little to do but tend the +animals and await the growth of the wheat crop, upon which Peter +anticipated so much. "And don't stop longer than you need, lad. He's +a bad man is Hurley, one of England's ne'er-do-weels, who came out +years ago, and has now taken to farming. I've lent him a seeder this +two seasons, and he hasn't returned it. Jest hitch it on to the back +of the rig and bring it along." + +"And you can take something from me along to Mrs. Hurley," said Peter's +wife, who was one of those kind-hearted colonists one so often meets. +"She's a poor, down-trodden thing, and most like she doesn't have too +many of the good things. Here's butter for her, and eggs, and a leg of +pork." + +Joe was by now quite an adept at the management of the rig, and soon +had his horses harnessed in, an operation of which he had been +supremely ignorant before his arrival. He mounted into the cart, +having placed Mrs. Strike's basket there already, cracked the whip, and +went off across the prairie track between the ploughed acres already +sprouting into greenness. + +Hurley's quarter section was a matter of four miles away, and Joe had +met the man only once before. But already something of his reputation +had reached his ears, and Joe had gathered that amongst a farming class +of industrious fellows this Hurley was looked at askance. + +"He's a bully, and a sullen bully with it all," Peter had said once +before. "He don't keep a hand more'n a month, as a general rule, while +I reckon the boy as he has apprenticed to him has none too good a time. +Hurley's a man I don't take to." + +Bearing all this in mind, Joe whipped up his horses and took them at a +smart pace across the fields. On every hand lay wooded country, with +clearings to right and left, where the industry of the settlers had +felled the trees, paying toll to the Government of Canada for them, and +had then rooted the land, broken it, and placed therein the seed which +was to spring into such bounteous growth. In every case a log hut was +erected somewhere on the quarter section, consisting of one hundred and +sixty acres; and these log huts often enough disclosed from their +outward lines something of the character of the inmates, for in one +case the shack was barely twelve feet by twelve. + +"Jim Canning's," Joe told himself, for he had met Jim and liked him. +"A confirmed old bachelor; been in Canada for ten years and more, and +seems to like living by himself. He's a jovial fellow. Hallo, Jim!" +he shouted, seeing that worthy crossing his section towards him. +"How'dy." + +Observe the expression, and gather the fact that even his own short +residence in the Dominion had already caused Joe to copy those who +lived about him. He was becoming quite a Canadian in his speech. +Already one could detect something of that pleasant drawl that marks +the sturdy colonial. + +"Hallo, Joe!" shouted the stranger, beaming at our hero and disclosing +handsome features, sunburned to a degree, while even his chest was of a +deep brown; for Jim wore no collar, and had discarded the customary +neckcloth. He was, in fact, a tattered-looking object--a huge patch in +the seat of his trousers, a shirt which might have been blue or green +or red in its palmy days, but which was now of a curious brown, +evidently from much exposure to the sun. "How'dy," he cried. "Where +away?" + +"Hurley's, fetching a seeder." + +"Huh! Then you look lively back agin," came the answer. "There's +ructions down there. Hurley's been fighting with his hands, and though +I believe they've settled the quarrel for the time bein', you never +know when it won't break out again; he ain't no use ain't Hurley." + +They waved to one another and then parted, Joe jogging along the rough +track, now with the wheels on one side deep in an old rut, which +threatened to upset the rig, and then bumping over boulders and tree +stumps, which made riding anything but comfortable. But what cared +Joe? He whistled shrilly; his face was rosy and tanned, his eyes +clear, his broad-brimmed hat thrust back on his head, till a lock of +hair showed to the front. Nor could his own clothing be very +favourably contrasted with Jim's; for Joe's shirt had a large rent in +it, made that very morning. A portion of the brim of his hat was +missing, while the ends of his trousers were threadbare, to say the +least of them. + +"Clothing don't make the man, anyhow," Peter had said many a time. +"You ain't any the wuss fer a rent in yer breeks." + +"Hallo, Joe!" came a hail across from another quarter section. "How's +the Strikes?" + +Joe shouted back a greeting, and was soon exchanging others with +farmers farther on. Indeed, he called at one of the shacks, a +magnificent affair, showing the pluck and ability of its owner. It +belonged to a city clerk from the city of London, one who had been +ignorant of farming conditions, and when Joe was last in this direction +it was not entirely finished. + +"I thought I'd just drop in and see the house," he said, as he pulled +up at the door. "It wouldn't have been neighbourly to have passed +without a call." + +"That it wouldn't," laughed a small but active lady, who emerged and +shook hands with him. "Hi, Jack, here's Mr. Joe come to see us! Isn't +the shack a beauty, just?" + +She stood away from the shack, regarding it with a proud eye. And Joe +eagerly extolled its magnificence; for this city clerk had built a +house which none need be ashamed of. + +"Not bad by half, eh?" he grinned, as he came up to Joe. "My cousin, +who's farming with me, gave a hand. There's four rooms inside, and a +covered way to the stables and the piggeries. It's cost us a heap of +labour, but it's done now, and mighty pleased we are. How's the +Strikes? Crops showing well, eh? We're doing fine; and the wife is +making money with her fowls and eggs and such things. My boy, I +wouldn't be back on an office stool for double the pay. I'm free +here--free, my boy! I can breathe out in this country. And look at +the kids--they're as healthy as we could wish." + +Joe took in his surroundings with an observant eye, and heartily +congratulated his friends. Here he saw before him an example of what a +man from a city can do in the Dominion, if only he have the pluck and +the tenacity to face the difficulties and disappointments which are +sure to come along at first, and have the perseverance to work. + +"How did you manage?" he asked Jack, the owner of the place. + +"Manage! Well, now, like this. I was ill back in the Old Country, and +I'll say this for the people who employed me--they treated me +handsomely. They paid my salary for a whole year; then the doctor +recommended Canada, and out we came, drawing all our savings. Tom, my +cousin, had been here four years working on the farms, and we went into +partnership right away. Of course I knew nothing. I trusted to him, +and I've learned steadily. It's been uphill work, my boy. But there +you are." + +He held out an open palm towards the house, eyeing it with supreme +satisfaction. And no wonder. Here was a man who through ill-health +had failed, more or less, in England. Canada had given him a new lease +of life and new opportunities. But let us remember that the Dominion +gives nothing without effort on the side of immigrants. Jack had +worked--his elaborate shack showed that distinctly--while he had been +aided and abetted by a clever wife who fell in at once with the ways of +the country, who did not grumble because she was far outside a town, +but set to work to master the intricacies of chicken rearing, or butter +making, and a thousand and one things, hidden arts to her till that +moment. And the result was success--success and happiness. + +Joe shouted a farewell, promised to call in for a meal on his way back, +and again whipped up his horses. In half an hour the rough track and +his rig brought him to the door of the Hurleys, a tumble-down shack, +showing obvious slackness on the part of the owner; and as he climbed +out of the rig he heard cries and shouts coming from the interior of +the shack. + +"A ruction," he told himself. "Perhaps I'd better wait; other people's +quarrels have nothing to do with me." + +He paused half in and half out of the rig for a little while, till, of +a sudden, the door of the shack flew open, and a lad some fifteen years +of age dashed out. After him came a burly, bearded fellow, whose +knitted brows and scowling face showed that he was in a temper. There +was a whip in his hand, and no sooner was he out of the door than he +sent the lash curling about the flanks of the lad who had preceded him, +causing the latter to give vent to a cry of pain and to take cover by +the rig. Then Hurley--for he it was--swung round on our hero. + +"Huh!" he growled, drawing in the slack of his lash. "What do you +want? You ain't been asked here. Clear off!" + +Joe dropped from the rig and stepped a pace nearer. "I've come for +Peter Strike's seeder," he said. + +"Strike! Eh? You get off!" came the furious answer, for it seemed as +if Joe's arrival had increased the anger of the individual. "You get +right off, or I'll give yer strike jest as I'm a-going to do with this +little rascal. Come you here, Tom; I'll learn you to leave the door of +the stable open of a night and have all the cattle treading over the +corn. You ain't coming? Then I'll have to fetch you." + +The huge bully bore down upon the trembling lad he had addressed, and +who seemed too scared to move. He cowered by the side of the rig till +Hurley was upon him, and was then dragged towards the door of the shack. + +"What! You ain't gone?" growled Hurley, seeing that Joe had made no +movement, but stood beside the rig regarding him, and gripping the butt +of his whip. "Ef you ain't away in a jiffy, I'll give you summat of +the same too." + +"You'll give me the seeder first," said Joe, keeping his temper, and +showing an unflinching front, "and then you'll take your hands off Tom. +Even if he did leave the stable door open, he's sorry, no doubt, and +there's no excuse for treating him so badly. I'd be ashamed if I was a +big fellow the same as you." + +Hurley let his lower jaw drop with amazement, showing a set of +irregular teeth which were all discoloured. He almost foamed at the +mouth, while his eyes narrowed with anger and seemed to disappear +within their sockets. Joe could see the fingers of his one free hand +crushed into the palm, while the man's muscles hardened and stood out +prominently under the skin of his arm. He bellowed when he answered. + +"So you'd like to concern yourself with things that ain't got nothing +to do with you," he shouted. "You're one of the green chaps from over +the water that thinks things out here should be run as if the boys was +dressed in silk, and every one of them mammy's darlings. I'm going to +lick this kid, and when I'm done, if you ain't gone, I'll give you a +hiding jest the same." + +Joe began to gather the fact that he was in for trouble, and debated +what he ought to do. There may be some who, under similar +circumstances, would have clambered into the rig and driven off; but +few, very few we imagine. Joe, at any rate, was not to be numbered +with them; he clenched the hand not gripping his whip and watched to +see what happened. And Hurley did not keep him long waiting. He took +the boy Tom by the scruff of his neck, forced him against the doorpost +of the shack, and proceeded to bind him to it with a length of cord. + +"That'll do," said Joe curtly, walking towards him. "Let that lad go!" + +"Eh? Why, ef I don't think you're mad!" declared the bully, opening +his mouth in amazement. Indeed, he never once thought seriously that +our hero would interpose between him and his victim. For Hurley stood +six feet in his socks, and was burly and heavy. Joe perhaps topped the +measure at five feet nine, and wanted to fill out a great deal yet +before he could compare with this fellow. If he had any advantage over +such a man, and that was an extremely doubtful point, it lay in his +activity. Joe was light and "nippy" on his feet. In the boxing ring +he could dodge round his opponent till the latter was exhausted almost +in his efforts to force the battle. Hurley, however, was heavy and fat +and unwieldy; besides, the bully's face bore abundant evidence of +indulgence. There were heavy lines beneath the eyes; the healthy tan +and colour of the average colonist who works in the open was +conspicuous by its absence, and instead his face was deadly pale. His +deep and rapid breathing, too, told of his soft condition. + +"He'd smash me like an egg," Joe told himself. "This is going to be a +nasty business. But I can't, I really can't back out of it. Look +here, Hurley," he said, attempting to reason with the angry man, "leave +Tom alone. You know better than I do that your neighbours would never +stand seeing you knocking him about. Bullying don't go down out in +these parts." + +There came a roar from Hurley. Reason was thrown away on the maddened +ruffian, and if only the truth had been known, he had imbibed a +sufficiency of liquor that morning to account for a great deal of +violence. Indeed, this was a habit which had grown with him, and which +spelled ruin to his farming and to the happiness of his home. The +veins in his bull-like neck swelled out prominently, then he launched +himself at Joe, and, swinging the whip overhead, sent the lash coiling +about his face. Our hero answered with a rapidity that must have been +startling. He dashed in with the quickness of lightning and brought +the butt end of his whip handle down with a crash on the middle of +Hurley's head. A minute later they were locked in one another's arms +and engaged in a desperate struggle. Hurley gripped Joe round the +shoulders, compressing his chest and arms. Then Joe managed to wrench +his right fist free, and without a particle of hesitation sent it again +and again into the bully's face, till blood streamed down upon him, +while Hurley shouted and foamed with rage, and strained as if he would +crush the life out of his youthful antagonist. His breath came in +gasps, so great were his exertions. His eyes were bloodshot, and +altogether he wore anything but a taking appearance. + +"Now, let me go, and end the matter," said Joe, keeping his wits, and +pressing the man away from him as far as possible. + +"Not till I've half-killed you," came the grunting answer. "I'll learn +you to interfere; I'll break yer back, young feller." + +And thereupon he proceeded to attempt to put that plan into execution. +He lifted Joe as if he were a feather, swung him round and hurled him +against the shack, jarring the breath out of his body. It was only +with a great effort that our hero kept his senses and struggled to hold +an upright position, then, just as he had got his breath again, the man +was on him. Joe let out with his right and left fists in quick +succession, getting home on the bully's face on each occasion. Then, +stooping quickly, he picked up his whip, and, gripping the handle +again, brought the butt heavily across Hurley's head, sending the man +staggering backward. Indeed, the fellow seemed to be incapable of +further exertion, for he rested his back against the shack and stood +there panting. + +Joe went to the boy at once, cut the rope which bound him, and pointed +to the shack. + +"Get your traps at once," he said, "then climb into the rig. I'll take +you along with me." + +He turned once more to see what was happening to Hurley, and was only +just in time to spring aside, and thereby escape a sweeping blow from a +heavy fork handle with which the ruffian had armed himself. + +"I'll show you who's master," shouted the fellow, his beard bristling +with rage, his hat fallen from his head, and his clothing all awry. +"I'll show you who's winner here, I will. I'll brain you before I've +done with you." + +Up went his formidable stick again, to be swung over his head; then +with a rush he advanced on Joe. But the latter dodged behind the rig, +and for a while attacker and attacked were separated. Joe, in fact, +could have retired. But there was the lad Tom to be considered, for at +this moment he emerged from the shack, a huge bundle under his arm. + +"Go back, right in," bellowed Hurley. "I'll finish you too if you're +not careful. Go right in; I'll give you what you've earned when I've +done with this cub. Eh? You ain't going to?" + +The smallest hesitation on the part of Tom was sufficient to send the +blood again rushing to the face of the bully. He looked a terrible +object as he sprang at the boy, and there is little doubt that he would +have done him a serious injury, had not Joe again pluckily come to the +rescue. Darting out from behind the rig, he was just in time to catch +the end of the stout handle which Hurley wielded as it swung back over +his shoulder. Then, with a howl of rage, the brute turned on him. + +"You again!" he shouted. "Then that for you! That, and that, and +that!" + +He rained blows on our hero, one catching him across the shoulder and +almost felling him. The remaining two he was lucky enough to escape by +leaping aside. But he realized that such an attack could not last for +ever, nor was he likely to escape another time. It was with a quick +movement, therefore, that he closed with Hurley. His fists went crash +into the man's face, and then they were once more locked together. But +here the bully had all the advantage, and his strength was increased by +the rage he felt. It mattered little to him that Tom, with a pluck +that did him credit, seized Joe's whip and struck his tormentor over +the head time and again. Hurley did not seem to feel the blows; all +his frantic rage was concentrated on Joe. + +"I'm a-going to kill you right out," he grunted. "I'll larn you to +come interfering with me and mine." + +He swung Joe upward clear of the ground and then hurled him downward, +once again driving the breath out of Joe's body. But he was not +defeated. The lad had more pluck than strength, to give him his due, +as, gasping for breath, he rose swiftly and once more tackled his +opponent. Reaching forward, he planted a heavy blow in Hurley's face, +and contrived to spring away before the man could seize him. + +"Go in again! Punch him for all you can!" shouted Tom, taking an +active interest now in the proceedings, and dodging round the +combatants, as if he were seeking another opportunity to strike his +tormentor. "Watch him, though; he's got that stick again. If I'd a +gun I'd shoot him." + +"You would, would you?" growled Hurley, his head down, his neck sunk +into his shoulders, and a demoniacal expression on his face. "You'd +shoot me, young feller? But I'll deal with you in a while. Maybe I'll +kill you. This fool here I will, sure as eggs." + +He spat into his hands and gripped his stake again. As for Joe, had he +been armed with a revolver, there is little doubt but that he would +have made good use of the weapon; for if ever a man looked murderous it +was Hurley. More than that, had Joe but known what the interior of the +shack disclosed, and been armed, he would have fired at this ruffian +without a second's hesitation; for Hurley's attack on Tom was not his +only act of brutality on this eventful morning. He had begun to bully +the boy an hour ago, in spite of his unhappy wife's appeal, and when +she had at length endeavoured to intervene, he had struck her +insensible. That was the class of ruffian our hero had to deal with. +A glance at his face, at his gaping lips, his firm-clenched teeth, and +his bristling beard showed that his mental condition approached +madness. And now, having regained his breath in some measure, he fixed +his eye on Joe and rushed at him as a bull would at one who had roused +his anger. + +"Watch him!" shouted Tom again, as if the warning were actually needed. +"Here, let's run for it." + +But it was too late to think of that. Besides, Joe had his master's +property to consider. He stood his ground, therefore, and held up a +warning hand. + +"I warn you to desist," he shouted. "I have done you no wrong, but +have prevented you from ill-treating this boy. You are much older than +I am, and should know what the end of this will be. Then, stand off." + +"Stand off, and know that you've interfered? Not me!" came the +growling answer. "Besides, I know how the thing's going to end. I'm +going to kill you sure for being fool enough to interfere with other +people." + +Hurley waited for no more. He had paused as Joe held up a hand and +spoke; but now he hurled himself forward, and struck out blindly with +his stake. As for Joe, he stepped aside and dealt the man a swinging +blow behind the ear as he passed him; but it was his last effort. The +fight was too unequal, for here was a man armed with a long stake and +able to reach him with it. Up went the formidable weapon again, and +when it fell Joe's head was beneath it. He fell with a crash and lay +quite motionless. As for Tom, he dropped his bundle and went off at a +run towards the nearest quarter section, shouting for help at the top +of his voice. + +"That's what I call justice," growled Hurley, looking at the result of +his violence. "I promised I'd knock him out, and I've done it. Now +for the next business. This row'll put the North-west Police on me, +and the neighbours'll be only too ready to join in. I'll hook it." + +He went to Joe and bent deliberately over his unconscious figure, and +then, with the hand of one who had obviously had experience, he ran +through his pockets. When he rose again he was tucking away within his +coat the roll of bills which represented all our hero's savings, added +to the small fund he had kept out of the bank, and in addition the +precious envelope which Joe's father had left to him. + +"Sixty-five dollars free," growled Hurley. "That's a windfall, seeing +that there's scarce a cent in the shack. It'll do for the time being. +Here's an envelope--valuables, perhaps. I'll look into it later. Now, +I'll cut this farming and be off." + +Hurley was a cool ruffian, even if at times he was violent. He entered +the shack, and emerged after some five minutes carrying a bundle of +clothes and a rifle. Then he mounted the rig, having previously picked +up the whip which Joe had used, cracked it, and set off down the track +in the direction of the railway. He left the figure of Joe Bradley +lying motionless and forlorn on the very ground, where he had made such +a brave fight to protect a lad little younger than himself against the +attack of a hulking bully. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Into the Backwoods + +"Jest you sit right up and take a sip at this. Now then, head back; +make a try, lad. It'll pull you round; time's pressing." + +[Illustration: PETER AND JACK BAILEY FIND JOE UNCONSCIOUS] + +Joe heard the voice afar off and stirred. There was a familiar note +about it, a kindly bluntness to which he was accustomed. So being the +sort of lad whose nature it was to make an effort always, if only for +the reason that he was of a decidedly active temperament, and perhaps +also because he hated, like many another person, to be beaten, he +lifted his head, feeling at once a hand placed beneath it. Then he +opened his eyes and stared upward, blinking all the while, at a huge +expanse of blue sky such as dwellers by the edge of the Mediterranean +rave about. + +"Eh?" he gasped, attempting to moisten his lips. "Time to get up, eh?" + +"Jest take a sip, and then you'll be feeling lively," he heard again in +the well-known voice. "You ain't knocked out altogether. That thar +Hurley ain't quite beaten you, I guess." + +The mention of the bully's name brought Joe to an upright position. He +sat up abruptly, and then, seeing a tin mug just before his face, and +being consumed by a terrible thirst, seized the said tin mug and +drained it. + +"Ah!" he gasped. "I wanted that. Where's Hurley?" + +"That's jest the very question we're axin' ourselves. Sit up agin, +lad," he heard, undoubtedly in Peter Strike's voice. He turned at once +and gazed into the rough, unshaved face of his master. + +"You?" he asked in bewilderment. "Why, I left you way back at the +shack!" + +"So you did, lad, so you did; but that's two hours ago, and perhaps +more. I was out lookin' at the pigs, and thinkin' as the time was +coming close when I'd drive some of 'em over to Sudbury, where I'd be +sure to make dollars on 'em, when the missus comes rushin' out. +'Peter,' she shouts, 'where have you got to? Drat the man!' she says +aloud to herself, 'drat the man! Where's he got to? Never here when I +want him, but--ah, there you be!' she hollers out, suddenly catching a +view of me over by the pigs. 'There you be, Peter.'" + +Joe sat up with a vengeance now. His stay with the excellent Peter and +Mrs. Strike had taught him to like them very much, and Peter's +description of what had happened was so faithful to what must have +actually occurred. Joe himself had heard the bustling spouse of his +master calling her lord in peremptory tones, and he grinned now at the +recollection. + +"Yes," he smiled, "you were there." + +"I was that," laughed Peter. "And then I heard that there had been a +ruction, and that you was in it. Of course I slipped into the shack +fer my gun at once, hopped on to a hoss, and was away fer Jim Canning's +in a jiffy. He'd got his hosses harnessed into the rig already, and we +went on in company till we struck along by Jack Bailey's. Wall, now, +he's a bright lad is Jack, though he ain't so very long from an office +stool in London. There he was with his cousin George, with the rig +loaded up with provisions. + +"'Most like we'll be away from home a bit,' sang out Jack as we come +up. 'So we've put together a little grub and drink, besides a kettle +and sichlike. What'll you do?' + +"'Get right along to Hurley's and see what's happened,' I answered. +'This Tom's come in in a hurry, and maybe things ain't as bad as they +seem. Anyway, we'll make along there. I'll gallop ahead. I've rung +up the central station Sudbury, and told the missus to call for the +North-west Police, because this job's bound to be a police job anyway.' +Wall, here we are. How's yerself?" + +Peter had filled his tin mug again, and when he offered it to Joe the +lad took it with pleasure. He could sit up alone now, and presently +could actually stand, though he felt giddy. However, they brought a +chair from Hurley's shack and placed him in it. Then Jack Bailey, the +immigrant who not so long ago had been a clerk in the city of London, +and who was now on the high road to becoming a successful farmer in the +Dominion, stood over him and gently dressed the wound Hurley had given. + +"Not so bad, after all," he said cheerily, as he carefully washed the +part where the bully's stick had fallen. "Little more than an inch +long, and not deep. It won't even send you to bed. Just stay still +while I clip the hair away and tidy things up a little." + +For ten minutes he busied himself with Joe's head, snipping the hair +away all round the ugly wound which Hurley had given our hero; for your +city clerk is no fool, and Jack knew that no scalp wound can be safely +left unless the hair be removed and thorough cleanliness thus ensured. +He produced a little roll of strapping which his thoughtful wife had +provided, and, having placed a small dressing over the wound, applied +the strips of strapping, getting them to adhere by the simple expedient +of lighting a match and heating the adhesive material. + +"Now you'll do," he said, surveying his work with some pride. "How do +you feel? Giddy, eh?" + +Joe felt distinctly giddy and positively sick; for a concussion is +often followed by sickness. But he was game, and fought down the +feeling heroically; in fact, he struggled to his feet, plunged his +hands into his pockets, and actually whistled. + +"Showing as you ain't beaten by a long way," said Peter, emerging from +the shack and looking with approval at our hero. But there were grave +lines about his face, and for a little while he was in close and +earnest conversation with his friends. Perhaps an hour later a +horseman came galloping towards them, and was hailed with pleasure. + +"That you, Mike?" sang out Peter. "I sent along over the 'phone for +you, and guessed it wouldn't take you long to reach." + +"Horse was already saddled, and me almost mounted when the message +came," replied the newcomer, dropping out of his saddle. "I was jest +off in the opposite direction, so it war lucky you 'phoned jest then. +I rode down to the station, and put horse and self aboard a freighter +about to steam out. They dropped me down about opposite here, and I've +legged it for all I could. What's the tale?" + +A magnificent specimen of humanity he was, this newcomer. Even Joe was +not so sick that he could not admire him. For Mike Garner stood six +feet in his stockinged feet, nothing less, and was burly in proportion; +also he seemed to be as agile as a cat, while none could accuse him of +fatness. + +His muscular calves filled the soiled and stained butcher boots he +wore. A pair of massive thighs swelled his khaki breeches, while the +dun-coloured shirt was stretched tight over a brawny chest, open at the +neck, and with sleeves rolled to the elbows, exposing a pair of arms +tanned to the colour of nut-brown, and swelling with muscle and sinew. +In fact, Mike was just a specimen of that fine body of men, the +North-west Police of Canada, who, in spite of paucity of numbers, keep +law and order in the land. But it is only fair to mention that out in +the settlements their task is simple, as a general rule; for your +newcomer to Canada, as well as the old settlers, are law-abiding +people, given to toil and thrift and not to broiling. However, here +and there there is trouble, and Mike had galloped over to investigate +the case of Hurley. + +"What's the tale?" he asked abruptly, dropping his reins over the big +horse's neck and leaving it there unattended, while he came towards the +shack rolling a cigarette. "Hurley's broken out, you say. Guessed he +might. I've had an eye on him this two years back. There's been +complaints of ructions at the shack. We had a man in a month back who +said he'd been knocked about." + +"It's wuss this time," answered Peter gravely. "I'll give yer the yarn +in a few words. I sent this here chap Joe over to fetch a seeder +Hurley had borrowed two years ago and hadn't returned. Wall, he heard +shouts as he come up to the shack, and saw Hurley whacking Tom here, +the lad he'd got apprenticed to him. Joe wasn't having that, nohow. +Eh?" + +He looked over at our hero as if for corroboration. Then Tom chimed in. + +"Hurley's a bully," he cried. "He was tying me to the post when Joe +asked him to leave off. He was polite, was Joe. But Hurley swore and +threatened him too. Then he struck at him, and there was a shindy. +My, but Joe stuck to his man and hammered him in fine style! If it +hadn't been for the rake handle, Joe would have beat him, big though +Hurley is. But he struck Joe over the head, and then I ran for help." + +"Seems to me as this here Joe did well," declared Mike curtly. "Wall, +now?" + +"There ain't much to tell. Tom reached Jim Canning's, and he rang me +up. We was all of us along here as quick as possible. Hurley took the +rig and drove off, and there ain't a doubt that he's taken a gun with +him. He cleared Joe's pockets of every cent--about sixty dollars, he +reckons--as well as a letter of some value. But that ain't all. +There's been trouble in the shack. That ere brute set upon his wife +and made an end of her." + +When the whole tale came to be understood, there was little doubt that +the brute Hurley had flown into a furious temper, and had become almost +mad with passion. His unfortunate wife he had killed with a knock-down +blow, while the reader has learned of his subsequent movements. + +"Wall?" asked Peter, looking expectantly at Mike. + +"You wait a bit, mate," said the other. He dropped his cigarette, +lifted his hat solemnly, and entered the shack. There was a severe air +on his handsome, sunburned face as he emerged. + +"Of course," he said, "we've got to follow; that is, I have. If you +gentlemen----" + +"You don't need to ax," exclaimed Peter, with added bluntness. "We're +here. Ef you want us, we're right alongside you all the time. Murders +ain't often done in the settlements, but when they are, then it's every +man's job to find the brute as did it. You lift yer little finger, and +you've every man Jack willing and ready." + +"Thanks," said Mike swiftly, looking about him and proceeding to roll +another cigarette. "We'll move slippy; we'll get right back along the +tracks this fellow made, and make use of the first telephone. This +Hurley didn't have one, so we can't send news from here. If he's taken +to the railway, we'll send along either way, and they'll have him +quick. But most like he's turned north, in which case we've a pretty +business before us. Ready now?" + +"You kin guess so," said Peter, clambering on to his horse. "Tom, you +ain't afraid to follow?" + +That young fellow shook his head vigorously; his eyes were sparkling. +At that moment he looked more of a boy, more resolute than he had done +ever since he came to the Hurleys'. "I'm game," he said. "If Joe was +game to tackle him alone, I'm right with the lot of you." + +"Then you climb right into Jack's rig and take Joe with you. He'll +want a bit o' nussing for a while. Reckon, Mike, if this here business +is going to take us away north, we'd do well to lay in a stock of +ammunition. What say?" + +The policeman was in his saddle already and turned his head. + +"We'll get all we want from the station," he said. "Let's move." + +Waiting to allow Mike to gain some yards start, so that he might follow +Hurley's track without difficulty, the others followed in single file, +first Peter, and then Jack and his cousin in their rig, with Tom and +Joe beside them, while Jim brought up the rear. Half an hour later +they struck the railway, running clear and unfenced across the land. +Here Mike turned east, still following the wheel marks left by the rig +which Hurley had stolen. About four miles farther along the marks left +the railway and ran towards a stretch of wooded country. Perhaps a +quarter of a mile within this they came upon the rig itself, deserted, +while the horses and Hurley himself were nowhere to be seen. Mike +dropped out of his saddle, where Peter joined him. As for Joe, the +jolting and the excitement of the chase seemed to have done him a vast +amount of good, for his head had ceased to ache, and he was hardly +giddy. But for the pain in his scalp and a certain stiffness about his +limbs, he might never have come by an injury. + +"Unhitched his cattle here and made off with 'em," declared Mike, +standing well clear of the rig, and walking slowly round it. "Struck +due north, as I guessed he might. He'll be hiding up amongst the +woods, and it'll take a tracker to find him. Tell you, Peter, it ain't +no manner of use for us to follow right off. We might lose his tracks +any moment, then there'd be difficulties. Guess the best thing to do +is to camp right here and wait. I'll make back to the railway and +'phone along. Late to-night, perhaps, or to-morrow morning I'll be +back agin with you, and then I'll have someone along with me as can +follow any track, as can scent out a white man almost. You sit tight +right here. Got it?" + +"You've hit it true," agreed Peter. "There ain't no manner of sense in +plunging on. This country right north is jest a huge forest for miles. +There's swamps, too; then stretches of rock over which a man might ride +and never leave a sign that a white man could follow. So we'll camp +right here, and you kin get back and fix things. Don't forget that +we'll want shooters. I've a revolver and a gun; Jack there and George +ain't got a gun between 'em, nor Joe nor Tom. It ain't sense to go +after a chap same as Hurley without having the things to meet him with. +He'll shoot, he will." + +"Sure," declared Mike, with the directness of one who knew; "he'll +shoot on sight. There's a rope waiting fer his neck, and he knows it. +You boys had best understand that right away." + +He glanced round at the party, his eyebrows elevated, a question on his +lips. But they sent him off promptly, laughing at his caution, eager +as ever, whatever the dangers, to follow the miscreant who had killed +his wife and wellnigh done the same for our hero. + +"Best get the hosses out o' the rigs and let 'em feed," said Peter, who +took the lead now that Mike had gone. "Jack, you and George has the +cooking things and the grub, so reckon it's up to you to cook us a +meal. Jim and me'll scout round a while. We ain't likely to cover the +tracks left by Hurley, and it'll be well to follow a goodish bit, so as +to make sure he ain't too handy. It wouldn't be kinder nice to get +eating and then have a bullet plumping amongst us." + +There was bustle about the little clearing for some few minutes. Joe +lent a hand to the Baileys, and soon had the horses out of the rig and +tied by a long rein to trees, allowing them freedom to graze. By then +Tom had gathered sufficient sticks to form a fire, and had helped to +take the horses from Jim's rig; for the latter had already departed +with Peter. In a little while there was a blaze in the centre of the +camp, and Jack had a kettle of water suspended over it with the help of +a couple of forked sticks. George produced from a mysterious parcel a +lump of meat, and having cut it into dainty slices, skewered them in a +long row on a maple stick he had cut and cleaned, and at once began to +toast them over the flames. + +"Makes you get hold of an appetite, young fellow," he said, winking at +Joe. "Now don't it? There's a flavour about open-air cookery that +just sets a man's mouth watering. Ever been out camping?" + +"Never," admitted Joe. "Ripping, I should say." + +"Then you're about right," cried George, his face ruddy beside the +flames. "I mind the time when I first came out to Canada. Didn't I +just pity Jack back in the Old Country! For I went off with a +prospecting party north to see what sort of a line there was for a new +railway. It wasn't half as bad as people had painted, for there were +few muskegs, as the swamps are called, and fewer mosquitoes. As for +food, there wasn't a day passed but the Indians along with us brought +in beasts of every sort; so we dined handsomely. And camping was a +fair treat. Talk about a difference between it and the old +life--living in a tiny villa south of London, mugging in a London +office, and being half-stifled with winter fogs! There we were in the +open day and night, such nights too! Fresh air, fresh food, and heaps +of exercise all the time. I just revelled. This steak frizzling here, +and the scent it throws out, reminds me of that time." + +Joe sniffed eagerly. His headache and even his pains were gone now, +while the trouble his wound gave him was infinitesimal. In fact, it +was the weight of the blow which Hurley had delivered which brought +unconsciousness. The wound was trifling. A thick skull had resisted +damage, and now that his brain tissues were recovering from the jar +they had received, Joe was almost himself again. He sniffed with eager +anticipation, and agreed that open-air cooking had its attractions. He +went to the far end of the maple switch and, holding out a hand, took +it from George. + +"You'll make a cook all right," laughed the latter. "Now see that none +of the steaks get burned. I'll pop tea into the kettle and get other +things ready. Those two will be back before very long; it stands to +reason that they won't go very far. Take my advice, Joe; get inside a +blanket just as soon as you have had a meal, and sleep. You'll be as +fit as a daisy come morning." + +About an hour later, when the first brew of tea had been finished, Jim +and Peter put in an appearance. + +"We kin camp without a thought of danger so far as I kin see," said the +latter, throwing himself down by the fire. "That thar Hurley's made +tracks slick north, and he ain't going to wait for no one. We followed +the trace of his hosses' hoofs fer three mile and more. By the way, +they ain't his hosses; they're mine. Jingo! That makes another count +up agin him. But I was saying as he's gone north slick as anything. +He'll want no end of catching. Seems to me this chase'll last a week +on end, and ef that's to be, I'll make across to the railway after I've +had a bite, and get on to the nearest telephone. Then I kin ring up +Jack's wife and my own and tell 'em. How's that?" + +"Just what was bothering me," cried Jack, who was at that moment +burying his teeth in a juicy steak. "I was saying to myself a little +while ago that it seemed as if this wouldn't be a one-day affair, and I +was bothering to let the wife know. Not that I'm going back till the +matter's finished. Not much--this is a duty." + +"You've put it fair and square," agreed Peter, with flushing face. +"This here are a duty, sure. Out in the settlements there ain't so +many cases of murder and theft. A man soon gets known, seeing as +there's so few of us, and mostly in settlements close together; and ef +he's a bad man--why, out he goes sooner or later. But bad men mostly +gets into the towns. There's a sight of 'em always hanging about the +saloons, and so on. Some of 'em make a regular business of watching +out fer green 'uns, fellers just out from home; and mostly the rogues +strip the poor chaps of every dollar. They're up to all sorts of +tricks. Most like they'll pretend to have land to sell, ready-made +farms, you might say. The bad man is Canada's curse, jest that and +nothing less; and reckon not a few of 'em is the relics of the wasters +and the wont-works who was sent out here long ago from the Old Country, +to get 'em out of the way or to give 'em a new chance." + +"In fact, just the class that modern-day Canada is determined not to +have," chimed in George. "And one can't blame the Government. In +future, jailbirds won't be sent direct to the Dominion instead of to +prison, simply because they'll be turned back at the ports; just the +same as folks with obvious disease of the lungs will be turned back. +But you can pass me along another of those steaks, Tom; and don't go on +looking at 'em like that. Pitch in at them, my boy. There's enough +there and to spare fer everybody." + +Tom had indeed been eyeing the frizzling steaks somewhat hungrily, and, +if the truth had but been known, it was only from force of habit. +Hurley had been very much the master. His apprentice had put up with +short fare and many blows. + +"How was it you was put with him, lad?" asked Peter, when he had +finished his meal and had lit up a pipe preparatory to his setting out +for the railway. "Surely the folks who put you there hadn't met +Hurley?" + +Tom shook his head emphatically. "They'd never seen him," he said. +"My uncle wished me to come out from England, and saw an advertisement +offering to take a lad for a premium. He paid the money and I came, +only to find that I was a sort of slave." + +"Huh!" growled Peter. "Jest what I thought. That's another turn the +bad man gets up to. But boys ain't always treated same as that. I've +had 'em meself, and know others who've taken lads. The Barnardo Boys' +Home sends a goodish lot out to Canada and places them out on the +farms. But, bless you! they ain't finished with 'em by a long bit, and +rightly so. There's inspectors who go round and make surprise visits, +and if they find that a boy isn't getting fair and square and liberal +treatment, why, away he's taken, and put somewhere else. And the +result is that we're bringing up in Canada a heap of young chaps who +come out jest at the very right age, when they ain't yet learned any +farming and when their minds is--wall, now, what are the term?" + +"Receptive," cried Jack, who was quite a scholar. "The young, +untutored mind is readily receptive." + +"Put it like that," agreed Peter, who was a wonderfully talkative and +jolly fellow. "The kids learn, and ain't got no bad tricks to unlearn. +Folks has got to set great store by 'em, for they're likely obedient +lads, and there's more demands for 'em than there's boys. They get +looked after. There ain't no bullyin' and half-starving same as in +Tom's case. What's more, farmers is willing and eager to pay 'em wages +and keep 'em, and not jest have their work for nothing, and a handsome +premium into the bargain. That 'ere Hurley's a bad hat." + +He knocked the ashes out of his pipe, leaped to his feet, and swung his +leg over his horse. Without troubling to put a saddle on the beast, he +hitched the rein free from the tree and went off whistling. + +"A good chap," said Jim. "Known Peter this many a year. Good master, +eh, Joe?" + +"None better," came the prompt answer. "They treat me as if I were a +son. He's used to this tracking?" + +"He's a good man, you may say," agreed Jim. "But he don't often track +men--moose perhaps, and a bear sometimes. This Hurley'll be a +different matter." + +"Now, Joe, jest you get right off to bed," commanded George, who seemed +to take almost a paternal interest in our hero. "By sunrise to-morrow +you'll be feeling fine, and you'll thank me." + +That the advice was good there was little doubt, and since Jack +supported it with vehemence, Joe obeyed, though he felt far from +sleepy. Indeed, he was almost too excited to be that; for, recollect, +the events of the day had been sufficiently rousing for a youth of his +age and experience. He had been engaged in a desperate struggle with a +bully, with a man who would have killed him with pleasure, and who, in +fact, did his best to bring about that ending. And now he and his +friends were in chase of the murderer. He, Joe, was away in the wilds +of Canada, in the backwoods, with the open sky above him, about to +Sleep beneath it for the first time in his life. He drew a blanket +which Jack had brought round his body, and lay down on a bed of spruce +that Jim had cut. And there for a while he lay without movement, his +eyes blinking at the glowing embers of the fire. A little later his +head dropped lower, while the men chatting in low voices round the fire +heard his sonorous breathing. + +"Good plucked 'un, him," remarked Jim, pulling his pipe from his mouth +and pointing the stem at the recumbent figure. "There's many as would +have backed out of that 'ere ruction and left Tom to fend for hisself. +He's the sort we want in this country. A chap as can put up a fight +with a murderer double his size can face the troubles that come to all +colonists. Pass the 'bacca, Jack. I came away in such a hurry that +I've none." + +"Do you know his history?" asked Jack Bailey after a while, when they +had smoked silently for some few minutes, the smoke from their pipes +ascending into the cool evening air and mingling with that from the +fire where it met the leaves overhead. "He's a better sort--one of the +better class in England." + +"As you can see," agreed George. "Heard anything of him, Jim?" + +"Jest this," came the answer. "There's a man named Fennick as was +close handy to me this five years back. Well, seems he came out with +Joe, and they write to one another every now and again. In fact, this +Joe's going along to join him one of these days as soon as he's learned +farming. Fennick just swears by the lad; says as he organized a band +of volunteers on the way out when the ship got afire, and helped to +fight the flames. So Joe ain't fought a murderer only; that's why I +agreed as he was a good plucked 'un. Now I'm fer bed; most like we +shall have a hard day of it ter-morrer. I know Mike; he's a boy fer +pushing ahead. There's nothing tires him. Gee! I wouldn't wonder if +we was in fer a hairy sort of time on this business. Joe are likely to +come up agin trouble beside which his fight with Hurley warn't nothing." + +Peace reigned over the slumbering camp within half an hour. The +watchful stars glowed down upon the little band and seemed to guard +them. Slowly the hours drew along towards morning, when the pursuit of +the murderer would be taken up in earnest. And which one of the band +could say what sort of experience awaited them? Perhaps Jim would be +right. It was more than likely that Joe might find himself plunged +into a conflict beside which his fight this day was a mere scrimmage. +But whatever the prospect might be, it did not disturb his slumbers. +Joe hardly so much as turned till the first rays of a brilliant sun +streamed into his eyes on the following morning. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Hank makes his Appearance + +The sound of hoofs trampling through the wood was the first thing that +came to Joe's ears as he sprang from his spruce bed and looked about +him. Someone was coming towards the camp through the forest, while +about the still-smouldering fire lay the figures of his sleeping +comrades. + +"Peter and Mike coming back, I expect," he told himself. "But +supposing it were Hurley?" + +There was just a bare possibility that the sounds were produced by that +individual, and, lest it should be the case, Joe gripped a thick stake +and awaited events. Then a shout escaped him, while an answering +welcome hail sounded through the camp and set every one of the sleepers +stirring. + +"I see you right enough!" shouted Peter, laughing as he dropped from +his horse. "I seed Joe grip a hold of a stake when he heard us, +thinking maybe we was Hurley. He was game, he was, to put up another +fight with the bully. But we ain't, you see, lad, and so let's get to +breakfast." + +It appeared that Peter had met with Mike late the previous night, and +the two had rested beside the railway; and now they came into the camp, +bringing with them a couple of followers. These proved to be +Indians--not the Red Indian one sees often pictured, but lean men with +bent figures, and dressed in shabby buckskins. Their black hair was +trained back from their faces and tied at their necks. Their thin +faces were seamed and lined as if with many troubles, while their bent +figures, their wrinkles, and their general appearance gave one the +impression that Mike had brought old men with him. + +"But don't you think it," said the policeman, when he dropped from his +horse and was seated near the fire awaiting a meal. "They're men I've +employed this many a time, and first-rate trackers. One's known as +Fox--and a fox he is, if one judges by his cunning--the other hasn't a +name, so far as I have ever gathered, so he's 'Bill' to me, and answers +the name promptly. They ain't much good at talking, either of 'em, +though they can speak English. I've known them sit all day long round +the fire and not pass more than a dozen words between them; but clever +trackers they are, and that's why I've brought 'em. Now, boys, +something to eat, and then away." + +By now the fire had been coaxed into a blaze, while a number of steaks +which George had prepared overnight, and had already skewered, were +soon sizzling over the flames. Tom came running back to camp from a +stream to which he had been sent, and at once the kettle was hung in +position. As for Joe, he felt a new lad indeed. He might never have +come by an injury, though his head was tender enough when one touched +it. He slipped from the camp with Jim, and the two, having walked a +little way down the stream, stripped off their clothing and had a +splendid dip. + +"Regular dodge of an Englishman," grinned Jim, as he sat on the bank to +allow the sun's rays to dry him. "Your Englishman comes to a foreign +part and plunges right into the first pond he happens on. There's +hardly another man that's so keen on bathing. But it freshens a +fellow--eh, Joe? How are you this morning?" + +"Hungry," came the prompt answer. "But I felt I wanted a livener, and +that dip has done it. Suppose we shall ride right off as soon as +breakfast is finished?" + +"You've hit it; Peter and Mike has brought along some spare hosses. +There was Peter's to begin with, and Mike's; then there was two in my +rig and two in Jack Bailey's, making six in all. With the Indians we +muster just eight, so two more hosses were wanted. You see, we ain't +going to take rigs with us. They'd be in the way, most likely, +especially in this sort of wooded country. We shall ride; Peter's +brought along the saddles." + +When they returned to the camp and were in the midst of their +breakfast, the voluble Peter explained matters fully. + +"Me and Mike hit right up agin one another last night," he said, "and +in course we got to gassing. We allowed as rigs warn't no sort of use +away up in the country to which this Hurley had made, so it war clear +that extry hosses was needed. Wall, we fetched 'em. Hank Mitchell, +one of the best fellows you could hap upon, lent 'em willingly, and +he's coming to join us. He's bringing guns, too, for they're to come +along in a freight train from Sudbury fust thing this morning; so's +saddles and tinned provisions. Hank has also arranged fer two of his +hands to come right along here and clear back with the rigs, fer it +wouldn't do to leave 'em here fer more than a day or two. People's +mighty honest in these parts, but there might arrive someone who was a +stranger, and who jest happened to be in want of a rig same as one of +these. So they'll be took back to the rail track, near Hank +Mitchell's, and wait thar till we returns. Why, ef that ain't Hank +hisself! He has been extry nippy." + +A short, spare man came cantering up to the camp at that moment, his +approach having been hidden from all by the trees which surrounded +them. He dropped from his saddle with as much ease as the average man +steps from one board to another, and walked swiftly forward. + +"Hallo, mates, how'dy?" he said softly, as if he were afraid of having +his voice heard. "My boys are close handy with the guns and sichlike. +Which one's Joe, him as I've heard of?" + +"Thar," cried Peter, grinning, and pointing to our somewhat bashful +hero. + +"Do yer drink?" asked Hank abruptly, stepping across till he was close +to him, and regarding Joe with a pair of eyes which might be described +as actually piercing. + +"No," was the equally abrupt answer. Joe, in fact, stared hard at this +newcomer. He didn't quite know what to make of him, though, to be +sure, he rather liked his looks. Hank's nut-brown face, clean-shaven, +unlike most others in those parts, with its deeply-lined forehead and +the whisps of grey hair showing beneath his hat at the temples, spoke +of one who had seen many years. But it was a kindly face, kindly and +keen; that, perhaps, was the better description. Every movement of the +little man was jerky. His lips, when he spoke, opened sharply and +closed again, as if he were anxious to hide his teeth. His eyes +blinked with spasmodic suddenness. He even seemed to breathe +differently from other men. + +"Smoke?" he demanded, firing the question off as if he were glad to be +rid of it, and yet observing Joe all the while, as if he would +penetrate to the centre of his brain and steal the very thoughts he was +thinking. + +"Sometimes," admitted Joe, somewhat guiltily; "not often; shall do +later." + +"Huh! Larned farmin' yet?" asked Hank, with comical shortness. + +"Trying," grinned Joe, beginning to see fun in this catechism, and +taking a decided liking for the newcomer; "but I ain't through yet. I +admit that I don't know everything. There's a few things yet that +Peter can teach me." + +"Ha! Ha! Ha!" shouted the latter. "He's had you, Hank. He's always +like this is Hank," explained Peter. "He don't 'low no one to be +friends till he's sort of axed him all sorts o' questions. And guess +he jest don't care much fer a Britisher as comes out here and knows +most everything. Git ahead, Hank, boy," he bellowed. "Joe ain't one +o' them. He's one of the right sort; he's a good plucked 'un." + +"You kin shake," said Hank, his comical gravity unmoved, though there +was just the suspicion of a flutter of an eyelid. "Lad, I'm proud to +meet yer. The chap as could stand up to Hurley are worth knowing. +Shake!" + +Joe shook. He danced almost on the toes of one foot, for this lean +little man had a hand grip of iron. His fingers closed round our +hero's as if he meant to crush the very bones, while those curiously +piercing eyes never left the young fellow he was addressing. + +"I say," roared Joe, "now try again." + +He offered his hand for the second time, while those who observed Hank +saw distinctly a twinkle of his eye. He even smiled, a rarity with +Hank, and responded at once to our hero's invitation. This time Joe +returned the grip with interest. Some weeks of farming, of rough work +in Peter Strike's service, had hardened his muscles, and anyone could +see that he was filling out. Indeed, but for the fact that Hank had +taken him unawares, Joe's fingers would not have received such a +crushing. Now he let them close round the diminutive Canadian's like a +vice, and fixed his eyes on those two piercing orbs which he found so +wonderfully attracting. The two closed in to one another till but a +short space separated them, and then and there exchanged a second grip, +the grip which spoke of friendship, of strength, of firmness, of +virtues which the man who lives his life in the open and meets danger +and privation often enough prizes above all other virtues. As for +Hank, the suspicion of a smile in his eyes went promptly. He was all +seriousness. Indeed, all of a sudden he seemed to view Joe from an +altogether different standpoint. A minute before he had been greeting +a green lad, one who had shown pluck and deserved encouragement; but +now he seemed to have dipped somewhat into the spirit which kept Joe +going, which dominated every waking moment of his life, which made of +him the youthful leader of that band of volunteers aboard the emigrant +ship, and again urged him to stand fast in Tom's behalf in spite of +Hurley the bully. Intuitively Hank seemed to guess that Joe had +balance and grit, and promptly he acknowledged the fact. + +"I'm fair glad to meet you," he said. "From now on you've a friend." + +Then they sat down round the fire, while their comrades watched their +faces for some few minutes. + +"Hank ain't often done a thing like that before," Peter whispered to +Joe a little later. "He's just the queerest bird I ever met, and don't +never show no feeling; but he's took to you, jest as a duck takes to +water. He's got grit has Hank. I've knowed him foller a chap as had +robbed a widow woman, follow him for two weeks on end, and take him +almost aboard the ship he had booked by. That meant determination, or +grit if you like to call it so. But here's the men with the guns, and +guess Mike's getting restless. Now jest take the word of one who's +been out here a while and has met bad men. Ef you sight Hurley, don't +stand hankey-pankey. Back in England you'd call to him and then give +chase ef he didn't round up. Out here you kin call to him; but ef his +hands don't go sky high above his head, and that in a jiffy, give him +lead--lead, boy, or else he'll be putting daylight through your own +valuable carcass. This ain't a game we're after; we're following a man +that's murdered a woman, his own wife, and who's got nothing but the +hangman's rope before him. He won't be over particular what happens to +those who pursue him. Now, Mike, what's to do?" + +"Fall in and arrange the order," cried that latter, swinging his leg +across his horse. "First, Tom there, stamp out the embers of the fire. +Things haven't got dried up yet awhile, for the weather hasn't been +overhot. But it's always as well to be careful; a forest fire is +something wuss than chasin' a murderer. Now, Fox and Bill go ahead. +Ah, they're there already--that shows that they've had practice. Then +I'll follow them close. Jack Bailey and George can ride along side by +side. Jim and Tom can come along next, while I guess that Peter and +Hank had best ride right in rear, taking Joe with 'em. It'll teach him +a heap, ef only he keeps his eyes and his ears open. Boys, there's +grub and stuff to bring along, so divide it up and drop it into your +saddle bags." + +Some little while before, Hank's men had put in an appearance, bringing +stout saddles with them, all of which were fitted with two canvas bags. +There were rifles also for each one of the party, as well as revolvers +and the necessary ammunition. The provisions consisted of tinned +goods, as well as the stuff which the thoughtful Jack Bailey had +brought with him. It took but a little while to share out all the +things, and very soon the cavalcade was mounted. Then, having seen +Hank's men ride off with the rigs trailing behind them, the party set +its face to the north and rode off in wake of the murderer. And a very +formidable and business-like little band they appeared. We have +already described the Indians known as Fox and Bill. They sat their +horses bareback, as if they were part and parcel of their mounts, while +not once had either addressed the other or one of the white men they +were to lead, save in the case of Mike, when all that passed seemed to +be a succession of incomprehensible grunts. For the rest, Mike himself +made a fine figure of a horseman, and sat head and shoulders above +everyone, for his horse was big like himself. Jack and George followed +some ten paces behind him, boyish eagerness on their faces. Then came +Jim and Tom, none the less eager, while in rear of all the lanky Peter +bestrode his horse with legs swinging loosely on either side, while +Hank sat his saddle for all the world as if he were a statue. The man +was taciturnity itself. He was almost as reserved and silent as the +Indians, and for watchfulness, there never was such a man. + +"Guess them two Injuns has made a mistake," cried Peter, after a while, +pointing away from the track they were following. "There's marks of +hosses to one side. Hurley stopped jest here." + +"And rested," agreed Hank, with brevity. "They ain't missed that. No +Injun could. They've seed that Hurley rested there some while, and +then went on agin. They didn't need to go and look; they kind of knew +it." + +"How?" asked Joe curiously, himself puzzled to see how the Indians +could have divined such a matter. + +"Simple," came the response. "We've been going this hour and more. +Wall, reckon it war evening when Hurley abandoned the rig and pushed +on. He travelled an hour, when it fell dark. He jest camped for the +evening. That thar place was his fust stopping point. It ain't of no +importance except to tell us that he's got so much start of us this +morning, besides what he made by getting off before we broke camp. +Young chap, this here's a sorter stern chase. Time's everything in it. +Hurley's got, say, three hours' start, and the country ahead is wooded. +Wall, we've got to make up that three hours afore we can come up with +him, and stopping jest to see what sort of a bed he made last night +ain't a-going to help us. See?" + +Joe did; he smiled at Hank. "Never even crossed my brain," he said. +"Somehow, when one tackles a job like this for the first time, one +doesn't see things as does a practised hand." + +"In course you don't," agreed Hank, winking back at him. "It's jest +like the farming; some chaps think they know everything, but they +don't. Most folks is bamboozled right from the beginning. They has to +learn; and tracking wants learning jest like farming. Now, jest you +see here; how should I know as Hurley warn't more'n three hours ahead?" + +It was a conundrum. Joe puzzled and puzzled, and then gave up the +riddle. + +"Don't know," he said, disappointment in his voice. "How?" + +"In course you don't know. How could you, youngster? But I'll larn +yer. This here's a wooded country, as you've agreed. Wall, now, most +all the time we're steering in and out amongst the pines, and every now +and agin you or me has to separate because there ain't room. Hurley's +got two hosses--don't ferget that--and he can't so easily separate, +'cos he'd lose a hold of the led hoss. So he has to ride round the +narrow places or squeeze through. He squeezes through at times, and +what happens? Jest this." + +Suddenly Hank drew in his mount at just such a spot as he was +mentioning, where the trees were grouped in a thick cluster, and the +track led between two of them, both on the high road to become giants. +Hank leaned from his saddle and pointed to a spot on one of the trees +about the height of his stirrup iron. + +"Hurley barged through that 'ere place," he said, "and, so as his leg +shouldn't get jammed, he pushed his foot out and rid the hosses as much +to the other side as he could. Wall, his thick, hob-nailed toe came +agin this tree and chipped the bark. I've seen a dozen similar places." + +Joe regarded the spot closely. It was evident, now that the fact was +pointed out to him, that Hurley's toe had been responsible for the +injury. + +"Wall?" demanded Hank. "See?" + +"The place he's left? Yes," assented Joe; "but----" + +"Jest so--wants larnin'," asserted Hank dryly. "Now, see here. This +aer a deepish cut, and a jagged one. It's bleeding; there's gum oozing +from the place, and it aer fresh and sticky. That shows as the wound +was done not so long ago. Ef it was last night, then the gum would +have balled down below, while the surface of the wound would hardly be +sticky, but gettin' dry. Now, how do I know as Mike or his Injuns +ain't done it passing along?" + +"Because the gum has balled to a certain extent already, while I see it +oozes very slowly from the wound." + +"Good fer you," cried Hank, evidently pleased with his pupil. "That's +a fust lesson. That there gum ha' balled jest a little, as you've +said, and there's some of it still oozing. Wall, now, it stands to +reason that a man don't go riding around in a wood like this when it's +dark, fer he'd get knocking his ugly head agin the branches. So he +either lies down and sleeps, or dismounts and leads the hoss. This war +done by a mounted man, and sense it ain't been light more'n three +hours, and Hurley couldn't ride during the dark, why, there's my +question answered. Even ef we hadn't seen the place where he camped, +this here wound in the pine would ha' told us all the story. Jest you +put that in yer mouth and chew it." + +Joe did with a vengeance. The two rode on side by side for three +hours, hardly exchanging another syllable; but all the while our hero +was observing. If he had imagined previously that he was a fairly +lively individual, quite wideawake and aware of his surroundings, he +was beginning to discover, particularly in the company of this sharp +little Hank, that he was by no means a marvel. + +"See whar Hurley stopped fer a bite?" asked Hank one time, as they +pressed along across a more open part of the forest. "You didn't? +Wall, jest ride back a pace and take another squint. It aer fairly +talking to yer." + +They returned some twenty paces, and Joe looked about him eagerly. But +not a sign did he see to convince him that Hurley had pulled up and +eaten. Hank grinned, one of those irritating and superior grins. His +dried-up face became seamed with subdued merriment, while Joe went the +colour of a geranium; and then, when in the depths of despair, he of a +sudden made a discovery. "Ah!" he gasped. + +"Jest so," said Hank encouragingly. + +"He hitched his reins over a branch, and the horse jerked his head and +pulled the limb off the tree. There it is. There's the place where it +broke, and, by jingo! there's gum below, slightly balled already. +Besides, there's a piece of paper a little to the side. Probably it +contained the food he was eating, while underfoot there are horses' +hoofs in all sorts of positions." + +Hank grinned the grin of a man who is elated. "That 'ere Mike'll have +to look to hisself, and so will the Injuns," he said. "Soon we'll have +you leading this here party. But you have got the hang of the thing +now, lad. Never get tired of looking about you. There's tales to be +read in most every spot. P'raps it's a bear that's passed. Then you'd +see a footmark same almost as ef it was a barefooted human. Or you may +drop on the splayed-out markings of a moose. That's the thing to fire +the blood of a hunter. Maybe there's not a sign, but only trees and +rocks and stones that seems to tell nothing; but there's always +something to be learned. A wolf has had his quarters here, fer there's +a hollow, and there's bones in heaps all round. Or there's been a +prospecting party through the place, fer there's stumps that has been +cut with an axe, and not broke off rough as ef the wind had done it. +Tracking aer a game that don't tire, never! It's a thing that a man +aer best at ef he's been born to it; but it can be learned, same as +farming. You ain't too old to start, not by a long way." + +Not till the sun was directly overhead did the little band come to a +halt, and then only to allow them to eat a little, while girths were +loosened to give the horses every chance of resting. + +"Steady and sure does it," said Mike, as he smoked his pipe and leaned +against one of the trees. "Of course, we've got to push the pace +whenever we're able, and I reckon we've been doing that all along. +Anyway, we've made up some of the distance, for single horsemen can get +along through these trees quicker than a chap who's got one to lead. +It's when he gets to open country that he'll make the most of the +hosses; for he'll be able to change over, and that means a heap, don't +it, Hank?" + +"A heap," answered that individual jerkily. "But he has to sleep, +Mike. That's where we'll have him." + +"Eh? How's that? I ain't followed." + +"Jest like this. He's fresh now we'll 'low, and ef he's able he'll +push on all through the night. To-morrow he'll still be going; but +when night falls he'll be wanting a rest, and so, you may say, shall we +be. Now, ef half this outfit pushes on, Hurley has to move ahead, and +it'll be slow travelling. Our chaps'll go afoot, so as to rest the +hosses. At dawn the rest of us rides along the trace after 'em, and +can cover the ground mighty quick in comparison, seeing that it's +daylight. Wall, we leave half the hosses with the fust party, who're +resting, and push ahead. Our chums gets a four-hour sleep and comes +along after. Both of us is fresh that night, while Hurley can't hardly +keep his eyes open. It aer as clear as daylight." + +The little man shut up like an oyster. He drew a pipe as diminutive as +himself from an inner pocket, crammed it with tobacco while his eyes +rested dreamily on the forest, and then struck flint and steel with +such unerring skill that he soon had the weed smouldering. + +"It aer as clear as daylight," he puffed at the company. "Ef things +goes in the ordinary way, Hurley'll be taken just when I've hinted, and +he'll be in jail come the week-end." + +"And supposin' they don't go along in the ordinary course?" asked Mike, +who, from his experience, thought highly of the taciturn Hank. "It +ain't of much use to set out follerin' a criminal and expecting him to +do jest as you want him to. You've got to make allowance fer all sorts +of strange turns. He's making north; he might fall in with some +wandering Indians, or a prospecting gang, and get off along with them +because of their help." + +"Yep!" answered the usually silent Hank, with accustomed brevity. +"Guess he might. Even so, we ain't done with him. This outfit's out +to catch a ruffian who wants catching badly." + +"You bet!" agreed Peter, with a quick shake of his head. + +"A brute who's been and murdered his wife," cried Jim, his face +flushing. + +"The sort of bully whose capture we must make our duty," declared Jack +Bailey, not the least enthusiastic of the party. + +"Yep!" responded Hank. "So it comes to this, Mike. Supposin' he does +do something we can't yet guess at, why, where's the odds? We still +goes on after him. And sooner or later, barrin' regular bad luck, +we'll have him. That's what I'm out fer. Guess it's the same with you +and the other partners." + +All that afternoon they pushed on through the forest, sometimes +pressing their way through closely-grown pine trees, and then through +thick masses of maple, of spruce, of birch, or of the scarlet sumac. +At times streams cut across their path--for Canada is a well-watered +country for the most part--and more than once had to skirt the edge of +great lakes. But always Fox and Bill went ahead without hesitation. +Not once had they met with a break in the trail. Their ferrety eyes +hardly seemed ever to look to the ground. It seemed, indeed, as if +they followed the trail of the murderer by intuition alone. When night +came pine stumps were set fire to and the chase continued. + +"You kin say as we're making even way with him," said Hank, who still +rode with our hero. "He's got to find his way amongst the trees, and +he's walking, I guess. Wall, so are we. But we've pine knots to light +us, and kin follow the trace easy. It's to-morrow night that'll be the +teaser." + +The early morning found the devoted little band emerging into a stretch +of open country. But there were trees again in the distance, and +always the tracks left by the fugitive went due north. + +"A child could follow all the way," declared Hank, as they went on at a +steady walk, sometimes trotting to change the monotony. "This here's +grass country, and no man can ride through it at this season without +leaving a trail. I wonder he ain't tried some tricks to throw us off, +sich as droppin' into a stream and riding down along the bed; but he +ain't, and it begins to look as ef he knew there was someone after him +and was feelin' hustled. All the same, he's 'way ahead; you can't get +a glimpse of him across the open." + +Halting for meals, and to give the horses a rest, the band had reached +wooded country again that evening, and about eight o'clock came to a +halt. + +"Here's where we camp," said Mike. "Now we'll divide up. Some of us +has a feed and a smoke, and then goes on ahead on foot; t'others has a +sleep along of the hosses, and then rides on at the first streak of +dawn. Who's going on?" + +It took but a little while to settle this point, and since it was +agreed to by all that young fellows like Joe and Tom needed sleep more +than did older men, and, moreover, had harder work to do without it, +these two remained in the camp, Hank and Peter staying with them. Fox +and Bill, with a curt grunt, assented to the fact that they should +proceed at once. Mike, of course, was one of the forward party, while +George and Jack Bailey and Jim completed its numbers. + +"Reckon you ain't got no great need to hurry," said Hank, when the meal +was finished and pipes had been lighted, while a tin pannikin was being +passed round with an allowance of whisky for all who cared for it. +"Guess Hurley'll think we won't be out to-night, and he'll take things +easy. In course he might camp too, when you might drop nicely upon +him. Jest hold yerselves in, for it's little sleep you'll get till we +have him." + +About an hour later the little band selected to move on in advance left +the camp in Indian file, Fox leading, with Bill immediately behind him. +They left their horses with their comrades, so as to give them a good +rest. + +"Yer see," explained Hank, "hosses is queer cusses. They kin stand a +deal of gruelling work ef they're fed right, and most of these here is +corn fed. But you can't drive 'em too hard. There's no other animal +that breaks his heart sooner, and that's a fact. They're that game, +they'll keep on till they're ready to drop. Therefore, you've got to +save 'em, particularly seein' as Hurley has got two to our one, and so +kin rest 'em in turn. Now the sooner we get stretched out the better." + +There being no need to set a watch, all who were remaining in camp at +once wrapped themselves in their blankets and threw themselves upon the +beds already prepared--consisting of the leafy tips of small spruce +trees, than which nothing can make a more comfortable couch--and, +needless to say, their eyes closed almost at once, for they were weary +after their travels, and they slept till the first streak of dawn +awakened Hank. + +"Up you gets, one and all," he sang out. "Jest give them hosses a +mouthful of water, and then we'll ride. Time we come along with the +others we'll feed, and then away agin." + +That was Joe's first experience of working on an empty stomach, and +truth compels us to add that he found the experience a trying one. He +felt hollow and sickly. The sharp morning air made him ravenous; he +simply longed for the hour for breakfast. + +"Guess you do feel holler," laughed Hank, when our hero told him of his +feelings. "I mind the time when I was jest a slip of a lad and felt +jest as you do. But I was away huntin' with my father then, for he +made a tidy pile of dollars by gettin' skins and selling 'em in +Montreal, and sometimes over the border in America. Wall, he were a +hot 'un. He never seemed to want to eat, only when he was set down to +it--gee!--he could put away double as much as the average man. It was +then that I used to get that sinking sensation. We'd be out at +daylight winter mornings, with the thermometer 'way down below zero, +and the air that crisp it made you jest long for a bite. And I've been +two days and more without a trace of food. That's mighty hard, you'll +believe me. Howsomever, you stick it out this time. You'll soon get +used to waitin'." + +However, when three hours had passed, during which the party had made +very rapid progress through a country thinly covered with trees, the +famishing feeling with which Joe had been assailed had worn off to a +considerable degree. + +"Feel as though I could go along comfortably all day without food," he +told Hank. "I'm not nearly so hungry." + +"You jest wait till you smell a steak cookin'," came the laughing +rejoinder. "Gee! Won't yer mouth water jest! But we're mighty near +them folks now. Seems to me as ef I could smell a fire burnin'." + +A mile farther along they came upon their comrades camped in a little +clearing. Mike at once came towards them. + +"He was camped sure enough last night," he said; "but Hurley's a smart +'un. He heard us comin', and streaked straight off; but he ain't far. +We've picked up a heap of lost way, and to-night we'll nab him. You +ain't fed?" + +"None," answered Hank, dropping from his horse. "These here lads is +fairly shoutin' fer food." + +They made a cheerful party round the fire, and Joe sniffed expectantly +as George skewered some steaks and set them to frizzle over the blaze. +And oh, the enchantment of that open-air meal and this camping life! +Joe revelled in it. Never had he tasted such juicy and succulent meat. +Never before had steaming tea seemed so very entrancing. And think of +the future! The excitement of this chase had grown upon him. In a +measure he was sorry for Hurley; but then he was a brutal murderer, and +such people must not expect anything but strict justice. + +"We'll have him come to-night," said Mike, with assurance, as he led +the way to the horses. "You folks had better see to yer guns. There's +never no saying when this Hurley won't stand to his ground and put up a +fight. Ef he does, wall, things will be flyin'. He ain't likely to be +so careless as to miss a chap who stands out clear under his sights, as +ef he was askin' fer a bullet." + +The announcement sent a flush to Joe's and to Tom's cheeks. They rode +forward eagerly, wondering when the silence of the forest might be +broken by a rifle report, and whether, supposing that event happened, +either one of them would drop out of his saddle. + +"Makes a chap tingle all over," Joe admitted to Hank. "But I ain't +going to let this Hurley scare the life out of me, not by a long way." + +"Good fer you," came the answer. "I ain't afeard of his bullets, only +lest he should beat us and give us the goodbye. That'd be tarnation +bad fortune." + +The result of this long chase was, in fact, still very much in the +balance, and it remained to be seen whether Joe and his friends would +yet lay their hands on the murderer, and if so, whether our hero would +be fortunate enough to recover his dollars and that vastly important +letter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Lost in the Forest + +"Them 'ere Injuns has stopped, and the hull crowd of us is collecting +together," suddenly exclaimed Hank Mitchell, when the party of pursuers +had marched steadily throughout the day till evening was approaching, +and were in the depths of a forest which, for three hours past, had +been getting denser and denser. "I've seed myself signs that told as +Hurley wasn't so far ahead, and I'd reckon that Fox and his friend have +seen something more than warns 'em that things may be warmin' up in a +little. There's Mike beckoning." + +It was not an easy matter to see far in this thick forest, even when +the light was at its best, which was not the case now that evening was +approaching. But it happened that Mike and the Indian trackers had +come to rest at a spot which gave the others a clear view of them, so +that as those marching in the rear came up, they were able to see the +comrades who preceded them gathering into a circle. Mike addressed +Peter and Hank immediately on their arrival, speaking in subdued tones. + +"He ain't got much go left in him," he said excitedly. "Fox reckons as +he went right off to sleep in his saddle hereabouts, and happenin' to +ride under a low branch, got swept off his horse. See here." + +He had halted his friends a little to one side of the track followed by +Hurley, a track easily to be distinguished; for the two horses the +murderer had stolen trod down undergrowth at every step, leaving a +trail which even Joe, with all his inexperience, could have followed. +Some yards ahead it was evident that something unusual had happened, +for the undergrowth was trodden down in a wide circle. Hank, his head +down, his eyes glued to the trace, sniffing as if he were a dog, at +once shot from the circle and, taking pains to tread outside the trail, +inspected every part of it. + +"Huh!" he grunted, with satisfaction which was evident. "Hurley ain't +the man that can put up with much loss of sleep. Besides, he's been +bustling these many hours, and that makes a man tired. You kin see +what happened. Of course, Fox and Bill were bound to notice it. +Reckon he carries a gun slung over his shoulder, and that was the cause +of his tumble." + +Joe looked the question he would have dearly loved to ask, and Hank, +happening to catch his eye at that moment, beckoned to the lad. + +"You come along over here and keep right clear of the trace," he said. +"Now, I know what you were about to ask. How'd I know as he had a gun +slung over his shoulder? Wall, here's the answer." He pointed to a +low bough which stretched right across the trail, and at once Joe's +eyes searched it. There was a small gash on the side from which Hurley +must have approached the branch, and the gash extended underneath for +some little distance, perhaps for a matter of three inches, while right +at the end a piece of bark had been torn out. + +"Plain, ain't it?" said Hank. "You could draw his picture, ef you had +a pencil and paper and was a hand at sich things. Just tell us how it +was." + +"Fast asleep and bending forward," ventured Joe. + +"Jest so. Bendin' forward, 'cos that's the way with a man that has +dropped off in his saddle. Wall?" + +"Gun slung over his shoulder--right shoulder, I should say." + +"Why?" snapped Hank. "No guessin', now." + +"Because the gash on this side of the branch slants in that direction, +looking at it from below." + +"Good fer you. Get ahead!" + +"I shouldn't have guessed that the gash was caused by a rifle, though," +admitted Joe, with candour. "You told me that part of it. However, I +think the gun was over his right shoulder; the muzzle caught the branch +and swept Hurley backward till he toppled out of his saddle. I suppose +he awoke with a start and made a frantic effort to keep his seat. +That's when the muzzle--perhaps the sight of the rifle--dug deeper into +the bark and ripped a piece away." + +"You aer gettin' along fine," said Hank encouragingly. "What next?" + +"There's where he fell," said Joe, pointing to the trace. "His fall +startled both horses; one went to the right and the other to the left. +They were roped together in all probability, or they would have gone +farther apart. Hurley picked himself up, scrambled on one of their +backs, and went ahead." + +"Cussin' at bein' so shook up," grunted Hank. "That's a fine tale, and +you've told it well, young chap. But next time you must be the fust to +spot things like this without gettin' hints from anyone. Mike," he +called softly, "what'll you do?" + +"That's jest what I'm wonderin'," came the answer. "How'd you fix it?" + +The shrewd and sharp little Hank had no doubts on the matter; in fact, +it was clear that he had come to a decision promptly, the moment he had +seen what had happened. "There ain't two ways for it," he said +crisply. "Hurley's 'way ahead, and not so far, neither. Most like, ef +he feels as we're close on his heels, he'll choose a likely spot and +turn. Now we don't want to let him feel anything of the sort, and so +it's up to us to creep on without a sound. Ef I war boss here I'd send +three or four of the party 'way ahead, t'others to follow, and be ready +to dash along up ef there was a call. But four ought to be enough to +collar Hurley ef he was without a rifle, while the same number kin easy +round him up and hold him till t'others arrive." + +"Then that's jest what I was thinking," cried Mike, looking across at +Peter. + +"Same here," nodded that individual. "Hank aer the boy fer jobs of +this sort. He's had experience, while chaps same as I am can't hope to +know much about tracking, when the best part of our time's spent on our +sections. Ef he says go ahead like that, why, in course it's up to us +to do it." + +"Then we'll send Fox along," said Mike. "I'll go ahead too, and Hank +with me. Who else?" + +"Why not Joe?" asked Hank suddenly. "He's cute, he is, and he ain't +likely to get scared. You could shoot, lad, ef this Hurley turned and +fired in amongst us?" + +"I would certainly," admitted Joe. "Of course, I don't want to have +to, for I should hate to kill or injure a man; but then he's a +murderer." + +"He's that," agreed Mike, with energy, "and he don't deserve soft +treatment. Still, ef he'll come in quiet, he shall be treated fair; ef +he don't, why, then, it's his own lookout. Best go afoot; eh, Hank?" + +"Sure! We can move jest as fast, and we shan't make anything like the +sound. You get ahead with Fox, Mike; I'll take Joe and larn him a +little as we go." + +At once they handed over their horses to their comrades, Joe passing +his to Peter. + +"You're in real luck, you are, lad," whispered the latter, as he took +the bridle. "I ain't never seen Hank take so much trouble with anyone, +least of all a green 'un lately out from the Old Country. He aer fair +took to you, and Hank aer one of them queer cusses that when he's fixed +a thing in his own mind he don't never alter. So you've a friend there +as you kin count on." + +Slinging a bag across their shoulders, and packing a tin mug and some +provisions, the quartet took up their rifles, saw that they had +sufficient ammunition, and then strode off through the deepening gloom +of the forest, the silent and ever-watchful Fox in advance, with Mike +close behind him; at a little distance in the rear came Hank, with Joe +beside him. + +"Jest you watch this," whispered the little man. "That there Fox don't +make a sound as he goes, nor Mike neither, and he's a big man. Wall, +see how they tread: always with caution; always lookin' first to see +what's underfoot. And ef they can't see, as'll be the case afore long, +why, then, they bends down and feels. You've got to be wary all the +while, I tell you. Supposing as you go you swung the butt of your gun +agin one of these tree trunks, wall, a man as was listening could hear +the sound half a mile away, for a forest carries sound; then, supposin' +you was to step on a piece of fallen branch, fallen perhaps last year +and dry as tinder now, why, it'd break with a crack that would make you +think someone had fired a gun, and that 'ere Hurley would hear it +whether he was listening special or not. So go carefully, whatever you +do; silence aer important." + +Joe found the task he had undertaken one of the most fascinating he had +ever attempted, for he was aware that the other three who formed the +party were experienced men, and unlikely to do anything to cause an +alarm. It was with himself that the danger lay, and he determined then +and there that he would return Hank's kindness in asking for him to be +one of the band by taking every care to avoid noise. Yet it was not by +any means an easy matter, for Fox pushed the pace. The lean Indian +strode forward with a long, stealthy stride, making not so much as a +sound. His head was bent towards his chest, his back bowed, while the +inward-pointed toes of either foot seemed to be able to see every twig +beneath them, and avoid them as if they were so many tinned tacks, +liable to cause a spasm of agony to the one who trod upon them. + +The huge and bulky Mike, contrary to one's expectations, followed the +Indian with fairy-like footsteps; for the policeman was possessed of a +wonderfully springy step, which carried him silently through the +forest. Hank's method of progress hardly needs description. The +little, lean man, whose features expressed his character so faithfully, +strode along in silence, and with such apparent unconcern and +carelessness that one would almost have expected him to trip over some +rotting stump, or in other way create some sound liable to reach the +ears of Hurley. But that was Hank's way. As a matter of fact, the +little fellow might be said to be all ears and eyes. He never seemed +to step aside, or to alter by the merest inch the length of his paces; +and yet contrast his movements with those of our hero. Joe was in a +fever; his eyes were glued to the ground, while his legs were flung +this way and that; for every second he seemed to see some lurking twig, +the smallest pressure upon which would send an alarm ringing through +the forest. + +Two hours later the light had failed to such an extent that it became +difficult to see the underwood, and the whole party was forced to +proceed as best they could, an occasional sharp crack showing that one +or other had stepped on a branch. + +"Seems to me as ef we was coming somewheres near water," said Hank, +after a long silence. "Somehow the air feels moister, and I've heard +tell as there are big lakes in this direction. What's that 'ere Injun +stopped for?" + +"Men been here before," exclaimed Mike, who had halted beside the +Indian as Hank came up. "Fox has found trees cut down; lumbermen +perhaps have been in this direction." + +"Seems to me as ef we was nigh clear of the forest too," said Hank. +"I've kinder felt water this past half-hour, and ef we pushes on a few +yards, seems to me we'll sight it. Ef so, Hurley aer closer than we +thought, for he'll have had his way stopped, and will have had to turn. +Let's git on." + +They proceeded again, but this time with added caution, and within a +little while suddenly broke their way out of the forest on to the bank +of a lake which seemed to be entirely surrounded by dense tree growth. +It was almost too dark to distinguish the size of this lake, though +Hank declared that it was very large. + +"What's more, we're at the far end of it," he said, with conviction, +"and ef I'm right, this Hurley ain't had to go so far out of his +course. He'll have cut to the right a little, and then straight north +again. I kin see his game too. He aer making for James Bay in the +hope that he may hit upon one of the Hudson Bay steamers going north. +It aer a long journey, but ef he could win through he'd be safer than +anywhere else. See here, he's gone right as I said he would." + +They turned along the trail again, this time in the gloaming, their +eyes now and again turned to the surface of the lake afar off, where +the rays of the setting sun were reflected. Not that they could see +the sun itself--that orb was entirely hidden by the trees--but perhaps +its light reached the water by way of some huge gap in the foliage at +present unseen by the little party. + +"A hut, 'way over there!" + +It was Mike who brought all to a sudden stop by this information, +sending them one and all to their knees, so as to make themselves less +visible. + +"Not as it aer likely as he could see us any more'n we could see him," +said Hank. "Still, it aer always wise to take precautions. Now I +guess there is jest one thing fer us to do. We want to strike right +off into the forest and skirt round till we're closer to that 'ere hut. +Of course, Hurley mayn't have stopped there; but then he may. Ef so, +like as not he'll be watchin' the trace he's left, and ef we continued +to follow it, he'd see us in half a jiffy." + +"Then let's get moving," cried Mike impatiently. "I'm for taking +Hurley the very first moment we can. But we shall have to rush him; +he's not the sort of fellow to give in without a struggle, and he'll +kick hard, you may say for certain." + +"He's bound to put lead into someone or sommat," agreed Hank dryly. +"We've got to get him cornered, and then attract his attention in one +direction while some of us rushes him from the other. Now, boys." + +"This way." Mike led the way beside the Indian, and once more the +little quartet dived into the forest, where giants towered on either +hand. Not that your wooded country in New Ontario can show such +enormous trees as are to be found much farther west, on the far side of +the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, to wit. For there a +favourable climate and a wonderfully fertile soil has caused monsters +to rear their heads to enormous heights, while the girth of some is +stupendous. But New Ontario can show some arboreal development that is +not to be despised, while in parts timber groups itself into great +forests, some of which have perhaps never yet seen a white man, though +the majority have by now witnessed the arrival of prospectors, and may +even have echoed to the ring of the lumberman's axe. + +Threading their way amongst the trees, and now and again having to +clamber over some fallen giant--for here, on the edge of the lake, the +trees were more exposed to winter winds, and some had suffered in +consequence--Joe and his friends gradually worked their way along till +opposite the part where the southern bank of the lake turned abruptly +north. Following this new direction, and creeping with the utmost care +through the undergrowth, it was some little while before they were +within sight of the hut which they had viewed from their first +position. It stood down by the water, thickly surrounded by +undergrowth, though the trees which had at one time no doubt reared +their heads there had been felled. It was just a small shack built of +logs and roofed with strips of bark. + +"Nigh falling to pieces too," whispered Hank, who had wonderful +eyesight. "Guess a lumber gang was 'way up here some little time back, +and that's where they worked and lived during the winter. The question +now aer this. Where's Hurley? Ef he's hidin' there we have him. Ef +he ain't, why, lookin' at the hut don't help us any, and merely lets +him get farther off." + +"We'll send Fox forward, then," answered Mike, his mouth close to +Hank's head, "unless you think that you----" + +"No, I don't say as I couldn't get there and back without even a +Redskin hearin' or seein' me," said Hank; "but then I might fail. And +it's jest sense ef you've got an Injun to make use of him. The +critters is that cunning, they'd nigh creep into a house and be sittin' +down beside you before a man was aware that they was there. They're +the silentest and the most cunnin' fellers as ever I did set eyes on. +Ef it wasn't that Hurley might be over yonder, I'd tell yer a yarn of +how a Redskin crawled into my camp one night and as near killed me as +possible. But send him off, while we lie down close." + +Sinking their bodies in the undergrowth, they lay still for some twenty +minutes, during which Fox was away from the spot. He went off towards +the hut with merely a low grunt to show that he knew what was expected +of him, and though Joe did his utmost to follow the man's track, there +was never a sound, never a waving bramble to show where Fox had gone. +Then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, our hero discovered the Indian +crawling in behind him. + +"Shucks!" grinned Hank, watching Joe. "I was wonderin' when you'd get +wind of him. That 'ere chap could ha' knifed or tomahawked you easy. +How did I know that he was comin'? That's what you're trying to ask. +Jest this way--you heard a frog croaking a while back?" + +Joe had; he had wondered where the beast was, and had listened to the +call three or four times repeated. He nodded in Hank's direction. + +"Wall, that war this here Injun cuss. It was jest his signal to let us +know as he was comin', so that we shouldn't get blazing into the bush +and shooting him. Seen anything?" he asked, swinging round on the +Indian, who, now that his task was accomplished, was seated +nonchalantly behind Mike, not venturing to give his news till he was +interrogated. + +"Seen the man," came the curt answer. "Tracks lead right to the shack. +Hurley lying down asleep, I think. Horses hidden in the forest to the +left." + +"Ah! Then this chase is drawin' to a close," said Mike, satisfaction +in his tones. "Hurley's there, fast asleep, perhaps. Seems as ef he +must have made up his mind that we'd stopped for the night. Guess we +can walk right in and take him--eh, Hank?" + +"Shouldn't, ef I was you; Hurley aer as cute as a hull bag o' monkeys. +True, he aer dead sleepy, onless he managed to get some sleep on his +hoss, which ain't altogether onlikely. Only he got knocked out of the +saddle, as you might easily expect. Supposin' he ain't asleep, but aer +lyin' hid there, you ain't going to take him so easy. Seems to me the +fust thing's to make sure of the hosses; then you kin creep in, and ef +you still ain't certain whether he's awake or asleep, why, one of us +kin kick up a rumpus close handy. That'll bring him out, when t'others +can jump on his back and take him." + +"Then Fox will see to the horses," declared Mike promptly. "We three +will creep up close to the house. As soon as Fox sends us his signal +we'll get closer, and if there's no sign of our man, we'll send Joe out +to draw him. Savvy, lad?" + +"Quite," said Joe. "I'll strike a blow with the butt of my rifle on +one of the trees and then sit down close to the trunk." + +"And keep out o' sight," advised Hank. "That ere the hull ticket, +Mike. There ain't no use waitin'. Jest now there's a little light; in +half an hour a fellow will want a pine knot flaring before his face ef +he wishes to know where he's going." + +Once more the little party was set in motion, Fox detaching himself +from the others. As for Joe, he crawled after Hank, every muscle of +his body vibrating. Every now and again his eyes went to the hut, now +easily distinguishable; for though it was dark within the forest, there +was still some light over the lake, while the hut itself stood +silhouetted against the fast-failing rays of the setting sun as they +fell aslant the water. Perhaps it took the trio ten minutes to reach +the shack. Perhaps the minutes were even shorter, though to our hero +the time seemed terribly long. His patience, indeed, was badly +strained before he had taken up what was to be his position. As for +Hank and Mike, they were lying down within ten feet of the shack, on +that side away from the door opposite which was Joe. It now only +remained for Fox to send his signal. As for Hurley, there was no sign +of him. He might have been a hundred miles away. Suddenly there came +a loud neigh from the depths of the forest, followed by another, and +then a whinnying which told of the presence of horses. Joe heard the +beasts stamping as if they were frightened, or as if the arrival of the +Redskin had caused them pleasure. In any case, the noise came to the +hut distinctly. A second later Joe imagined he heard a sound from +within. It was followed by the sudden appearance of a figure, bent +almost double, and rushing out into the open, as if some force were +behind him and propelling him. Indeed, long before our hero could lift +his weapon or could shout, Hurley--for he it undoubtedly was--had +bounded across the narrow open space about the shack and had dived into +the forest. + +"After him!" bellowed Mike at the top of his voice, as he plunged +through the bushes. As for Hank, no sound left his lips. The little +man trailed his rifle and went off after Hurley with his head down and +his ears pricked, and eager to catch every sound. Need the reader feel +surprised that Joe followed suit. Recovering from the utter +astonishment into which the sudden manoeuvre had thrown him, he gripped +his own weapon and darted after his comrades. He could hear them +directly to the front, and dashed headlong after them. Then his +already-wounded head came into somewhat violent contact with a branch, +and Joe sat down rapidly. But he pulled himself together after a +while, and, with his brain dizzy and buzzing, thrust his way onward +through the dense growth of trees and underwood. How long he continued +the effort he never knew. Suffice it to say that he made a desperate +endeavour to keep up with and gain upon his fellows. Then, of a +sudden, he discovered that there was not one single sound to direct +him. A minute before he had imagined he heard the crash of men dashing +through the forest; now there was a deathly silence all about him. He +stood still, panting, endeavouring to silence his own breathing and to +still the thud of his throbbing heart. No, not a sound but what was +made by himself. He shouted--not an answer; not a shout in return. He +called loudly on Hank and Mike to tell him of their direction. Then, +as the minutes passed and silence still surrounded him, he pushed +valiantly on amongst the trees, hoping every half-minute that there +would be a signal. Whether he went directly forward or retraced his +steps, or faced the east, the west, the south, or the north, Joe was +entirely ignorant. He was lost, in fact. The knowledge after a while +drove him frantic, so that he plunged aimlessly to and fro; then, +fortunately for him, perhaps, a second collision with a tree knocked +him senseless. For the moment his troubles were forgotten, though his +plight was still the same; and the plight of a man lost in the +backwoods of Canada is often enough desperate. Indeed, many a poor +fellow has gone, never to be found again, swallowed by the trees which, +as the years roll on, are felled to form the log huts of the settlers +crowding into the Dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A Hand-to-hand Encounter + +While Joe lies senseless in the depths of the forest, lost entirely to +his friends, and in as desperate a condition as he well could be, it +will be as well to follow the footsteps of Mike and Hank as they dashed +away in pursuit of Hurley. Both were well accustomed to the muskegs +and the timbered lands of Canada, and, if only the truth were known, +had before now been engaged in a similar expedition. But following a +murderer during the daytime through such a place, and at a sedate pace, +was entirely different from the same attempt at night, and all the +while at such speed that precautions could not be taken. + +"Ef that ain't the third time I've barged into a tree trunk and near +had all the breath knocked out of my body," growled Mike, when he had +progressed a mile, and was still well behind Hank. "Seems to me that +we should ha' done better to sit down and wait till morning, or lit +pine knots and then followed. Hank may do it; I shan't. This forest +fairly beats me." + +But Mike was a man possessed of wonderful perseverance and tenacity, +and, in spite of the numerous occasions on which he blundered into +trees, he held to the chase till he also, like Joe, lost his comrade. +He stood listening for a sound to tell him where Hank was striding +between the trees, then, hearing nothing after quite a long wait, the +wary and experienced Mike sat down in the most comfortable attitude he +could assume, dragged his ever-faithful pipe from his pocket, and, +having filled and lit the weed, puffed away philosophically. + +"Hurley ain't got nothing to fear from me, that's certain," he told +himself, not without some amount of disappointment and bitterness. +"But Hank is the boy to keep him running. The little chap is that +hard, he could keep at it all night and right into to-morrow, and he'll +stick to his man unless something clean throws him off the scent. For +me, reckon I'm trapped here. I'll have a smoke and then a sleep. +Early in the morning I'll consider things, and then push on or make +back to the hut, as seems best." + +Meanwhile Hank slid through the forest as only a practised hunter could +have done. It was on this night expedition that he proved his worth, +as also the value of an early training. For while Mike dashed so often +against a tree, and we know that Joe had done so to his own injury, +Hank seemed intuitively to know when a low-hung branch stretched across +the path he was following. More than that, somehow he contrived to +keep directly on the trail which Hurley was making. + +"I'm getting closer," he told himself, when a whole hour had passed. +"Any time now Hurley'll turn, and then, ef he don't climb down and cry +out that he's beaten, I'll have to put lead into his carcass. That's +him 'way ahead, making as much noise as a bull would ef he was +gallopin' through the forest." + +Loud bangs and crashes indeed told of Hurley's presence, for the trees +carried every sound, and accentuated most. It may be imagined, +therefore, that the sudden cessation of all noise astonished Hank +considerably. + +"Eh?" he asked himself, coming to a halt and standing perfectly still +so as to listen the better. Not that Hank's breath was coming fast, as +in the case of our hero; no, he was not even panting. His heart beats +were scarcely increased in number in spite of his exertions, which only +went to prove that constant training, correct diet, a good digestion, +and a happy and contented mind are advantages possessed by men such as +Hank who live their lives in the open. "Not so much as a sound," he +told himself. "Now, what has happened? Seems to me likely that Hurley +aer turned and ha' got his gun ready fer shootin'. Wall, an old bird +same as me don't get frightened jest because lead may be flyin'. It +wants a clever or a lucky man to make a hit in the darkness, specially +when there's tree trunks all round to give a fellow cover. I'm going +to move forward." + +He drew back the hammer of his gun, for Hank was a conservative little +fellow. + +"None of yer new-fangled guns fer me," he had said more than once. +"Mind you, I 'low as the new 'uns is fine, and has many advantages. A +chap can load and fire twenty times perhaps while I am fiddling with +this trigger. 'Sides, I've one myself, and know 'em well. But ef +there ain't likely to be quick firin', give me this old thing." + +Gripping the weapon in one hand, he bent double and went on stealthily, +and in five minutes he had gained some fifty paces. But of Hurley +there was no sign. The murderer gave no signal which told of his +whereabouts, and though Hank stole on farther, still there was nothing +to indicate where Hurley had got to. + +"Fair beats the band," growled Hank, beginning to doubt his own powers +of trackin'. "I'm past the spot where I last heard him, and I'm dead +sure he ain't been within ten yards. Hurley aer a town man, and I'm +game to say as he couldn't have sat so still as I should miss him. +This fair puzzles me--oh!" + +His keen ear heard something towards the left, then again there was +silence, save for the murmur of the breeze playing amongst the leaves +overhead. Hank slid in that direction promptly, only again he gave a +gasp of astonishment, and finally one of extreme annoyance; for it +seemed that he had missed Hurley's new path by but a very little. It +is not to be wondered at that he had not always been able to follow the +exact steps which the fugitive had taken, for he was tracking now not +by signs conveyed to him by leaves and sticks and bushes, but by sound +alone--the noise of the murderer as he broke his way through the +underwood. When that had ceased, Hank had lost direction slightly. He +had turned just a little to the right, whereas to the left, where +Hurley had passed, there was a curious clearing. It was a broad glade, +in fact the same through which the falling sun had sent its glancing +rays to the surface of the lake. Clear of trees, thickly covered with +grass, it offered a carpet which deadened all footsteps. No wonder +that Hank had heard nothing. It was a fortunate matter, indeed, that +some slight sound, perhaps his boot striking a pebble, had shown +Hurley's position. Hank bounded into the glade as if he had been shot +out of the forest. + +"Thunder!" he growled. "Ef that ain't the cutest move of any as he's +practised! He's made back towards the lake, that's fer certain. There +ain't no use in waitin'." + +Once more his gun was trailed, and this time, bent less low than +formerly, the little hunter went speeding off in the direction Hurley +had taken. Nor did the darkness trouble him, for whereas amongst the +trees it had been intensely dark, here in the glade it was +comparatively light, and a man with eyes such as Hank possessed could +detect every obstruction. + +We will leave him in pursuit of Hurley, and, having already shown Mike +calmly smoking in his leafy retreat, will once more visit our hero. +Joe was in a sad way, and it was, without shadow of doubt, a boon to +him that collision with a tree knocked him senseless, for but a few +moments before there had come to him that stupid, senseless frenzy +which comes to those who are lost. Even the brave man is not proof +against that frenzy. Sudden, nameless terror snatches at him; the very +silence mocks him, while calmness and reason, virtues of which he may +well have been the proud possessor earlier, leave him as if he were a +leper. Distraction, desperate and hopelessly unavailing effort follow, +and finally there comes exhaustion. The unhappy wretch who is entirely +lost may become calm when strength has left him, and die merely from +want of food and water; but more often madness is the enemy which +finally accounts for his ending. + +It was as well, therefore, for Joe that a severe blow on the head drove +all sense and knowledge from him. He lay like a log for hours, and if +we describe his condition faithfully, we must declare that the blow was +not entirely responsible. Joe was fagged out with his long efforts; it +happened, therefore, that a deep, refreshing sleep followed upon the +unconsciousness produced by collision, and carried him well on into the +morning. The shaded rays of a risen sun were streaming in upon his +leafy prison when he finally opened his eyes. + +"Hallo! Hank!" he called, and, getting no reply, turned to stare about +him. "My word, don't my head hurt just! Now, how's that? Why, if---- +Where am I?" + +His brain was still muddled, though wonderfully refreshed, and for +quite a little while he sat thinking, trying to remember exactly what +had happened. Then the knowledge of his true position came to him--he +was lost in the forest. + +"And made a fine ass of myself, to be sure," he cried, remembering his +fears of the previous evening. + +"Lost my head; got scared at the silence, and then went barging right +and left. This is the dickens of a muddle. Here am I, goodness knows +where. Anyway, in Canada, I'm dead certain." + +That set him laughing--for Joe was a merry fellow--moreover, the warm +rays of the sun streaming down upon him, together with the fact that +the past few days had accustomed him to his surroundings, cheered him +wonderfully. He began to whistle, an old habit, and then recollected +that he was hungry. + +"I'll be better for some food, that's certain," he told himself. "I +can't think properly as yet. But there's one thing I am sure of--I +behaved like a child of two last night. I clean lost my head, and am +jolly glad there wasn't anyone else here to watch me. My, how Hank +would laugh, and Fennick too! Wonder how he and his wife are doing, +and Jim and Claude too. Wonder, also, whether Hurley's captured." + +Quite accidentally his hand fell into the bag which he had suspended +over his shoulder, and it was with a gasp of pleasure that he +remembered that provisions were inside. Joe dragged them out, and, +just to show his independence, gathered some sticks and lit a fire. +Water was what he wanted now, and a search for that commodity told him +still more of his own condition of mind on the previous evening; for +his way took him along the track he had himself formed, and presently +he came to a part which looked very much as if a circus horse had been +driven there, and forced to carry out all sorts of evolutions. Tracks +led through the underwood to right and left, crossed one another, and +joined sometimes so that two or three were side by side. In one he +came upon his rifle, a find which caused him pleasure; but where the +outlet was, in what direction he had been coming when he reached this +spot, Joe could discover not the smallest inkling. + +"Anyway, there's water," he said, filling the kettle which he carried +slung to his belt, and which had received a sad battering in the +forest. "Jolly glad I've got the tea--that'll put life into me--then +I'll have to think this matter out; shouldn't wonder if a shot wouldn't +bring an answer." + +It was a brilliant idea, and cheered him wonderfully. Let us say, too, +that Joe needed cheering. In spite of his undoubted courage, and of a +naturally cheery disposition, the terror of the intense silence of his +huge prison sometimes almost got the better of him. It was with an +obvious effort that he beat down the feeling. Retracing his steps to +the fire and busying himself with his cooking preparations helped him +wonderfully, and when at length he had swallowed a hot cup of tea and +had eaten a couple of grilled slices of meat he felt distinctly better. + +"I'll try a shot now," he told himself, "then I'll think matters out. +I wonder in what direction I came--beats me hollow." + +He was in the act of loading, for he had withdrawn the cartridge popped +into his gun on the previous evening, when a sound suddenly reached his +ears and caused him to sit bolt upright. + +"Eh?" he asked himself. "Hank or Mike or Fox perhaps. Hope so." + +There it was again, the noise made by a man thrusting a way through the +underwood. Joe gathered up his belongings, stamped out the fire, and +went off in that direction. Bang! Crash! He heard the noise time and +again, and getting nearer. It seemed, indeed, as if someone were +coming towards him. Perhaps five minutes later, when, convinced of the +fact, he had thrown himself down to wait and watch, the figure of a man +came into view, seen somewhat indistinctly between the maze of leaves +and branches. + +"Mike!" thought Joe. "About his size. No; too small, though it's a +big man but less bulky than Mike. Can't be Hank. Then who is it? +Hurley!" + +The knowledge that the murderer was actually before him sent a rush of +blood to Joe's head. His ears throbbed and buzzed, his pulses beat +spasmodically, while his heart thundered against his ribs. + +"Hurley!" + +Joe climbed silently to his feet and raised his rifle. He now could +see the man approaching him better, and could no longer have any doubt +as to who it was. It was, without a question, the murderer whom he had +fought outside the shack in defence of Tom, the very man Hank and his +fellows, with Mike, the policeman, had been following now for such a +time. + +"Hurley! Still escaping! Then Hank failed to get him! Where's his +gun?" + +Joe peered through the leaves and branches, and presently caught a +glimpse of the weapon which it was known the murderer carried. He bore +it before him, fending brambles away with it as he went. That gun, no +doubt, was loaded, and Hurley still able and willing to slay anyone who +dared to intercept him. What was Joe to do? Let him go? Funk the +business, or call to him and chance a bullet? + +"Nasty thing if he hit me here; nobody would know. I might be badly +wounded and help never reach me. Rotten that, very!" + +Joe shivered. We are describing his feelings and his actions with the +utmost truth and fairness, and truth compels us to say that he +shivered. He looked about him doubtfully, seeing nothing but leaves +and waving branches and underwood, with the figure of a man he knew to +be already a murderer breaking a path through the forest quite near at +hand, while a rifle was borne prominently before him. Bear in mind, +too, that Joe had had a terrifying experience already, that he still +bore a wound given by the bully, while his scalp was sore and his brain +still dizzy with the collisions he had experienced on the previous +evening. + +"He'll miss me by fifteen feet," said Joe, measuring the distance with +his eye. "If I like to stay quiet he'll be by in a jiffy, and +then--then I'll be safe!" + +He could have kicked himself for the thought; the blood flew to his +cheeks again and shamed him. He clenched his teeth and bobbed his head +higher. + +"Frightfully tempting to funk the meeting," he told himself wrathfully; +"but I'll not be such a coward. + +"Hurley!" he shouted. + +The man stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting into sudden prominence. + +[Illustration: JOE SURPRISES HURLEY] + +"Hands up!" bellowed Joe, keeping well hidden. "Hands up or----" + +There was a loud report which reverberated through the wood, while a +rattle overhead told its tale unpleasantly. A shower of severed leaves +sprayed on to Joe's head, while he listened to a curious click with +which soldiers are familiar. + +"Loading again--might get me next time. Shall I plug him?" he asked +himself. + +Very cautiously he lifted his rifle, and with it his head, which he had +ducked at Hurley's shot. But where was the man? There was no sign of +him. He had disappeared entirely. + +"Dropped down where he was, and is waiting and watching. Dead certain +he isn't moving," said Joe, "or I'd hear him. I'll wait and watch too." + +Presently his patience was rewarded. A black sleeve came into +view--only a tiny triangle showing--then the muzzle of the weapon. Joe +levelled his own on the sleeve and called again loudly. + +"Drop that gun, Hurley," he shouted roughly, "or take the consequences!" + +The answer came so swiftly that he was astonished, and once again our +hero had the unpleasant feeling of a bullet passing within close +distance of him. Under the circumstances it required nerve to kneel a +little higher, take aim just a foot below the spot where he had seen +that sleeve, and press his own trigger. Then, like a dart, he sprang +away, and within a moment was located behind a stout birch tree, which +gave excellent cover. + +"Got him, I think," he gasped. "There was a shout directly I fired. +Wonder if I killed him?" + +The thought set his ears tingling and a nasty cold feeling down the +centre of his back. Joe wasn't bloodthirsty by any means. He hated +the very thought of killing a man; but here it was decidedly a case of +Hurley or himself. Softness and pity would be thrown away on such a +villain; the smallest advantage allowed would certainly end in his own +undoing. It was with the utmost caution, then, that our hero peeped +out from behind cover, while his fingers were busily employed in +thrusting a fresh cartridge into his rifle. Moreover, he listened +eagerly for any sound which might tell him that Hurley was moving. Joe +had, in fact, an artful and cunning foe to deal with, and quickly found +that he was very far from effecting his purpose, also that the murderer +was by no means likely to give in without a struggle. For as he peeped +from behind the shelter of his tree a figure rose suddenly, a weapon +was fired, and at the same instant down went the figure. + +"Thunder!" he exclaimed, using an exclamation which Hank was in the +habit of employing. "That was a near one; chipped a nice little piece +out of the bark of the tree and--yes, perforated the butt of my rifle." + +Very cautiously he peered round the tree again, and then, with a sudden +feeling of elation, caught sight of a black object slowly rising above +the undergrowth. Joe dropped his sights on it and pressed the trigger +steadily; but, to his amazement, the black object continued to rise for +the space of a few seconds, then it dropped just as suddenly out of +view. + +"Huh!" he grunted. "A decoy! Lifted his coat on a stick and drew my +fire. Two can play at that game." + +But even if he were to follow Hurley's example, caution and cunning +were still required. Joe dropped on to hands and knees and then spread +himself face downwards on the ground. In that position he wormed his +way along some three yards to the right, where he again took cover +behind a tree, and on this occasion he lifted his head with the +greatest care. + +"He'll be watching the tree where I was located," he told himself, "and +if I wait a little he'll show himself, seeing that I don't put in an +appearance. Then will be the time to aim straight, for I am sure that +if I don't take the fullest advantage of every opportunity he will +shoot me down." + +"That 'ere young cub that was the cause of most of my trouble," growled +Hurley, as he lay on the ground awaiting developments. "Wall, it might +ha' been wuss; I kin knock him out easy ef I'm just ordinarily +cautious, then there won't be no one in the way. I'll double the hull +way back--that's what I'll do--get along to the railway, and board a +freight train. Down by Niagara Falls there won't be no difficulty in +hoppin' across the suspension bridge, and afore these fools is much the +wiser I'll be hid up in Buffalo." + +His keen eye detected Joe's new position, and, watching closely, he +soon saw a portion of the latter's clothing projecting from behind the +tree. Up went his rifle, and an instant later the clothing fell to the +ground. With a shout of triumph, Hurley stood to his feet, only to +drop back again like a stone; for Joe was undamaged. He had merely +played Hurley's trick upon himself, and now that the opportunity had +come to him, he stood out from cover and fired direct at the man. +Unfortunately, however, he was too late, his bullet tearing on through +the undergrowth. + +"The young cuss!" growled Hurley, startled by his narrow escape. "But +I'll get even with him yet. Ef he can play a game same as that, see me +foller." + +He thought it all out as he lay there in the underwood, and then once +again selected a suitable portion of a fallen branch. This time it was +his wide-brimmed hat which he raised slowly above the leaves and ferns. +But though Hurley peered from amidst the tangle of boughs and leaves, +he could see no sign of our hero. It was an intense surprise to him +when there came a flash and a loud report from the left, from an +altogether different position, while his hat twiddled round on the +branch he had thrust into it. + +"Jingo! He's shootin'!" he told himself, with a growl. "Lucky my head +warn't in there. But I ain't done, not by a long way. I'll try the +trick agin, and then I fancy I shall have a surprise fer that 'ere +Britisher." + +Very slowly he proceeded to elevate his hat again, and this time so +soon after the last that he guessed that Joe would hardly have had time +to change his position. So that it was again a shock to find a bullet +swishing rather from the right. However, Hurley was a man with an iron +nerve; moreover, he knew what awaited him should he be captured. +Straightway leaping to his feet and trusting to Joe not having had time +to reload, he dashed into the bush and, seeing our hero, threw himself +upon him furiously. Nor did he deign to make use of his own weapon. +Dropping it as if it were no longer of use, he gripped Joe with both +hands and, swinging him aloft as he had done once before, he prepared +to hurl him against a tree. Indeed, he almost carried out that +intention; but Joe managed to curl in his legs and so escape. + +"You're jest about dead this time," gasped Hurley. "You'd have done +far better to have stayed right at home with the kids, which are yer +place, than have come out here to take grown men. That'll finish it." + +But the second swing he gave didn't finish the matter. Joe was a +tougher foe to deal with than Hurley imagined, for, locking his arms +round the murderer, he defied his every effort to lift him. But all +the while he was conscious of the fact that the man was a great deal +stronger than he, and that unless he could deal him a vital blow, his +own chances were far from good. It was at this critical moment, when +the two were once more struggling fiercely and had rolled to the +ground, that a man came darting through the underwood. Dashing up to +the combatants, he placed the muzzle of his old gun against the +murderer's head and called loudly on him to surrender. + +"You may jest as well throw it up, Hurley," he said, with wonderful +coolness, "fer I guess you're cornered. 'Sides, ef you're troublesome +you're like to get the sort o' dustin' a feller don't take to kindly. +So jest turn it up. Joe, get a hold of his rifle. Now, my man, you +stand there agin the tree and don't try hanky-panky. I ain't +particular whether it's the law that deals with yer or me. Savvy?" + +Hurley did; he unloosed his grip of our hero promptly and, now that the +tables were turned, stood cowed and subdued in front of Hank, eyeing +his old muzzle-loader askance. As for Hank, he grinned at Joe. + +"It war a near call, lad," he said. "Strange that it should be you as +really cornered him. But keep yer eye on him and yer finger on your +trigger. There ain't never no saying when he'll be up to games, though +it won't be often he'll play 'em once Mike's up. He could lift this +hulkin' feller as ef he war a baby, and my, wouldn't he give him sauce!" + +Some twenty minutes later Fox put in an appearance, and after him Mike. +Hurley was promptly secured, his hands being bound behind his back, for +Mike had lost his handcuffs, while a stout cord was passed from the +lashings and secured to Fox's wrist. Then the party wended their way +through the forest, and in a wonderfully short space of time came to +the hut in which Hurley had taken refuge. Here their comrades joined +them in the evening. + +"It war a close call," said Peter, when he had heard of Joe's +adventure; "but I ain't quite clear as to how it come about that you +was out there in the forest all alone. Spin us the yarn." + +"I was lost, that's the simple explanation," answered Joe, telling them +how he had dashed hither and thither in a frenzy, and how a collision +with a tree had in the end sent him senseless to the ground. "And a +mighty big bump I've got to show for it," he added ruefully. + +"You're jest mighty lucky to have one to show at all, young feller," +growled Hank. "I ain't been in these parts without meeting with +similar cases. I've known young fellers, and oldish men too, go off +into the timber and never come back. I've seed a ghost of one crawl +back after a week, and he as mad as a hatter. What's more, I know what +the feelin' of bein' lost is. An old hunter same as me don't never +feel like that. When I war young it war different. Nowadays I could +find my way out anywhere. I'd do as you did, doss down fer the +night--so I reckon that blow you got war lucky,--then, when morning +came, I'd watch fer the sun, and I'd go ahead always in one direction; +but it seems to me as ef supper war ready." + +"One moment," said Joe. "How was it you came upon the scene so +opportunely, Hank?" + +"How? Jest like this, and simple enough. This 'ere Hurley give me the +slip, and shot out into a glade. Wall, a bit of a rattle as he passed +over a stony patch told me the direction he had taken, and precious +soon I had picked up his traces again. Seems he took to the lake, +straddling a log he found there and pushing out. But the wind war on +this shore and brought him back. Early this mornin' I dropped on his +traces and found as he'd turned south. Mike come along with Fox at the +same moment, and reckon we set out fer all we war worth. It war then +that we heard a shot, and then others. That set me movin', and--wall, +that's all." + +He closed up like an oyster, and actually blushed when Joe continued. +"Not all, Hank," he said earnestly; "you saved my life. I'm grateful." + +"Gee! Ef I ain't that hungry!" shouted Hank, springing to his feet +hurriedly. "George, ain't you got them steaks frizzled yet?" + +"Ready," came the answer, while George held a stick to which the steaks +were skewered aloft. + +"Then we'll eat," growled Hank, as if he had recently had a quarrel +with our hero; "and mind, there ain't no more gassin'." + +"He aer fair set on you," whispered Peter, after the meal, taking Joe +aside. "He knew you was in trouble, and I tell you he wouldn't rest. +All night he war searchin' for your traces, and ef he hadn't bustled, +guess he'd have reached you too late. Hank aer the queerest little +morsel as ever I set eyes on." + +"He's a fine fellow," declared Joe eagerly. "Some day I'll get even +with him." + +The following morning they mounted again, and in due course reached the +settlements, where the party divided. + +"Hank's comin' along to stay with us," said Peter. "How's that, young +'un?" + +"Ripping!" Joe meant it; he had taken a huge fancy to the little +hunter, and hoped, if he were lucky, to learn a great deal more from +him. + +"You'll do that right enough," laughed Peter, when our hero told him. +"Hank aer a troublesome feller. It ain't often that I hear of him that +he ain't been in some adventure. Jest you watch to see that he don't +drag you in too. I don't altogether trust the little varmint." + +"Drat the man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike. "Joe was a steady worker afore +he came here; but now, bless us! he's always wantin' to be off into the +wilds and forests." + +And go Joe did. He worked all through the summer and autumn, helping +Peter to get in his harvest, and learning much about farming; then, +leaving Tom, the lad for whom he had fought, as Peter's man in his +place, he packed his bag and rode off with Hank on a prospecting +expedition. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Investing Hard-earned Dollars + +Barely six months had passed since Joe Bradley took passage to Canada +and became one of the ever-growing army of immigrants who yearly ascend +the mighty St. Lawrence river and are scattered throughout the +provinces of the Dominion. The days had flown since his landing, and +but for that long chase of Hurley, the murderer, scarcely an event had +happened to break through the orderliness of his day's duties. No +longer was he a greenhorn, either. His knowledge of farming as it is +practised in England may be said to have been still extremely small, +but of farming in the Dominion he knew almost enough to manage a +quarter section of his own. + +"Not that I advise it," said the cautious and knowing Peter. "You're +over young yet to face the worries which must come to a landowner, and +you could do with more capital. So you take the advice of one who's +tried, and go as a labourer a bit longer. Meanwhile, you could put +that 'ere money you've saved into something likely to make it grow +whilst you're prospecting with Hank." + +Joe had, in fact, saved quite a respectable amount, for it must be +remembered that his personal expenses were extremely small, while his +wages were good. Moreover, the dollar bills which Hurley had stolen +from him had been recovered when that individual was captured, though +the precious letter left him by his father seemed to have been lost for +ever. + +"It war a piece of luck, I do declare," said Peter. "Ef he'd gone off +along the railway there would have been a different tale to tell. Joe +aer fortunate to have come out of that mess with his life, and still +more lucky to have got back his dollars. As to the letter, there ain't +no saying if it war valuable. P'raps not; least, that's what I'm +hoping. And now the thing's to invest his savings so as they'll grow +while he's away prospecting. Seems to me, Hank, as ef this here place, +as well as the settlement right up agin the railroad, might soon get +big. The land's good for working. The crops this year has been +first-class, and some of our boys has won prizes for their wheat. +There's Jim, fer instance. His was nigh the heaviest yield per acre +that there's been recorded, while the grain weighed mighty heavy to the +bushel. In course the papers prints and publishes all these things, +and people gets to know. There's been strangers hereabouts looking fer +sections to take up come the summer. Wall?" + +Hank was not the one to give an opinion offhand. He cogitated a great +deal, and as a rule his faithful little pipe helped him considerably, +or rather it appeared to help him, for it was his invariable custom to +fill it on such occasions, set fire to the weed, and sit crouched into +a ball, holding the pipe between two of his shapely fingers while he +stared into the open. In this case there was no open, for they were +seated in Mrs. Strike's parlour, and Hank had perforce to stare into +the open stove, which is part and parcel of every settler's dwelling. + +"Never did see such a man!" exclaimed Mrs. Strike impatiently. "He's +all movement, you tell me, when he's off in the forest; but here, when +you want his advice, he jest sits down and blinks, till you feel as ef +you could shake him. I ain't got no patience with the man." + +Peter grinned widely; he was accustomed to his wife's ways--and Joe +also--knowing well that it was all playfulness on her part. As for +Hank, the little man whom nothing daunted, as a rule, he pulled heavily +at his pipe and looked as if he might take to his heels and run away. +He glanced askance at Mrs. Strike, till the good woman smiled at him. + +"I'm only teasing you," she explained, with a laugh. "But, dear, dear! +you do amuse me. Seems to me as ef I shouted you'd be scared almost +out of your life." + +That set Hank grinning also--a nervous grin--then he became solemn, for +matters which concerned the welfare of Joe needed the utmost attention. + +"I'm with you, Peter," he said at last. "Down by the railroad +things'll move soon. A few dollars laid out in town plots wouldn't +come to harm, while ef we was both to apply for quarter sections right +here, we could sell 'em at the break of winter to new settlers anxious +not to be too far out. What about Hurley's, by the way?" + +"That aer fer sale now," came the answer. "He didn't do much to it, +and there don't seem no one wanting it just now, which are natural, +seeing that winter's here. Come next spring it'll be asked for." + +"Then there's Joe's chance. Ef he ain't got enough dollars, I'll chip +in with him. Eh?" + +"Ready and willing," agreed Joe. "I like the idea immensely. Hank and +I are off into the woods prospecting, and we're not likely to want much +cash. Seems to me it's a wise thing to put what I have where it may +grow during my absence. I'll apply for a quarter section right here. +It's a condition of the Government that all settlers shall fence their +sections in a given time, and break so much of the virgin ground. I +can't do that now, as we have hard frosts, and things are too cold for +working. In the spring, if I like to, I can tackle the job. If not, I +can sell; then I'll buy Hurley's if I can, and sell that again also." + +Buying and selling is the life and soul of Canada. Land speculators +purchase from the Government with the sole idea of selling to those who +follow, and see in the land for sale something with greater attractions +than that offered free by the authorities. Again, men must fail in +such a country, and here and there are always to be found those +unfortunate enough to have to offer their sections, on which they may +have expended much toil already. Whereas a quarter section of virgin +land, extending to one hundred and sixty acres in all, may be of little +value when unbroken, broken and fenced it is almost always of +considerably enhanced value; for breaking and fencing mean the +expenditure of labour, and labour is terribly hard to come by at times +in the Dominion. + +"We'll go along and see into the matter to-morrow, then," said Peter, +when the question had been further discussed. "Jest throw on a log or +two, Joe; it's cold enough to freeze one even inside the shack." + +Those few days which followed gave our hero some idea, though not a +complete one, it must be acknowledged, of the life of settlers in +Canada during the long and severe winter which visits the land. There +are those who dread the winter. One meets occasionally a man who has +returned to England because of the Canadian winter, because of the +inertia it brings to great stretches of the country, stopping all +outside work, and, on the farms, cutting off neighbours from +intercourse with one another. At other times it is the loneliness and +silence of the life which send would-be settlers away; but not very +often. There are scores and scores who put up with the winter as we in +England put up with decidedly dispiriting weather, resting tranquilly +and passing the idle hours as best they can, knowing well that a +glorious summer will surely follow. + +"Not that there's fogs and suchlike," explained Peter, when telling Joe +of the life. "Most days its beautifully sunny and bright, though the +thermometer may be down below zero. And as to stayin' indoors all the +while, that we don't. Most of us has knocked up runners, on which we +put the rigs when we've stripped the wheels from 'em. Jim down below +thar being a bachelor, with plenty to spend, and being also a good bit +of a sportsman, has dogs, and his team drags him from shack to shack, +specially round about Christmas. Even the school children get to +school on their snowshoes. There ain't no difficulty about that +neither, onless the weather's too altogether bad, for the Government +build schools fer each settlement. There only wants to be a matter of +seven children, and up goes a stone-built school, and a mistress who's +properly trained for the job gets a lodging in the nearest shack, or in +the school itself, and starts off to teach the youngsters. As to work, +wall, I finds heaps. Winter's jest the time for papering the walls of +the shack or fer doing a bit of painting. There's furniture wants +making, and last winter I and the hand that stayed with us built a new +stable. This time I'll whitewash all the outhouses, as well as the +fowlhouse." + +"And for me there's enough and to spare to keep me from being idle or +from grumbling," interjected Mrs. Strike. "There's the house, in the +first place, with the beds to make and sichlike. There's food to be +cooked fer all, including the chickens, which have hot stuff every day +through the winter. And ef I'm dull with looking at Peter there, I've +only to go to the telephone and ring up Mrs. George Bailey. A real +nice woman that, Joe. She's a help to her husband, she is, and that +can't be said of every woman who's come out from England and has lived +her life till then in a villa just outside London, with never any +greater difficulty to provide for her family than that of stepping +along the street to the nearest shop. If they was all like her, +there's many settlers would be more successful." + +It was clear that Peter and his wife could have kept on discussing this +theme for an hour or more; and to those who knew them it was equally +certain that these two worthy souls practised exactly as they preached. +They had faced the difficulties and the privations often met with in +greater number by early settlers, and they had succeeded. Peter was a +man who, thanks to hard work and a genial temperament, had made a +success of his quarter section, so that the land which had lain bare +for centuries before was now entirely tilled, and yielded handsomely to +his efforts. In fact, from the position almost of a pauper, the man +had advanced to a point where he earned a handsome income that was more +than sufficient for his needs, and allowed him to put by many dollars +during the course of a year. + +"And it ain't finished there," he told Joe and Hank gleefully, when +dilating on the subject. "There's the quarter section. It's worth a +tidy heap of dollars--more'n a thousand pounds in English money--and +that's what I could get any day of the year. But I don't stand still, +not never." + +"I've had my eyes around, and have gone in as a partner with a brother +of mine who came out to Canada at the same time. We worked together +for a while, then he went west into British Columbia. Wall, he took up +fruit land when irrigation wasn't much more'n dreamed of and, with +dollars I put to his, bought two sections close handy. They're gold +mines. He's been able to get labour, and seeing that he has a large +family of sons and daughters able to work and help, why, it's only +needed honest work to tickle the soil and put in the trees to turn over +a fine penny; the land does all the rest. It's that fertile it grows +astonishing crops of apples, while peaches, strawberries, and sichlike +do thundering well. Tom--that's my brother--was mighty wise and lucky +too; he took up ground within easy reach of Vancouver, so that he +always has a close market for his goods, putting aside the fact that it +allowed him to watch things going on, and buy other bits of land when +he thought they were likely to go up in value. That's where some of my +dollars has gone. Me and the missus will be sellin' up one o' these +fine days, and going west where it's warmer." + +Joe was bound to admit that the cold did not trouble him. Not that the +winter had as yet set in in full severity, though there had been heavy +frosts and a fall of snow; but, as Peter had told him, he always found +work to do. Even those few days before departing with Hank were +strenuous ones. There were logs to saw for the stove, for the huge +iron thing which warmed the shack, and which is essential to a Canadian +winter, ate timber wholesale. Then there were the cattle to be tended +to--for they required feeding, since they could not graze for +themselves--there were the pigs also, while always water was wanted +inside the shack, and must be drawn from the well which had been one of +Peter's labours. + +Of an evening, too, while the weather was so open, George and his +brother, Jim and other neighbours would drive over, and there would be +a jovial supper, followed by a dance, when Mrs. Strike bustled Joe +tremendously, till the rough furniture was cleared aside and the +boarded floor made ready for the dancers. Then it was Hank's turn, and +sometimes Jim's, though Hank was the one who usually obliged. Seated +cross-legged in a corner, his face as serious as if he had an army of +Redskins after him, the curious and lovable little fellow would bend +over his concertina and send forth such notes, that dancing became easy +even to the most clumsy. + +Those were jolly days. The jovial and friendly fellow who had come out +from England had found not a set of desperadoes in the settlers of the +Dominion, but men and women just as he had known at home, with only the +difference which climate and environment necessarily bring. Hard +workers, they liked Joe because he was like them in that, and because +of his modesty. They liked him, too, because of his open admiration of +the country of his adoption and the life he led. + +"Ef they was all like you there never wouldn't be any squabbling," said +Peter; "but Canadians is getting to understand the Britisher better. +He's coming out in greater numbers now, and sense he and we are the +backbone of the country, why, we're fools if we ain't friends." + +It was on a bright, clear, frosty morning that Hank and Joe climbed +into Peter's rig and, with that worthy driving, set off for the nearest +station. Mrs. Strike wiped her eyes as they went, for she was +genuinely fond of them, while Tom shook Joe's hand as if he would +wrench it off and hold it as a keepsake. An hour later they were +aboard the train, and could see Peter driving back home to the +settlement. + +"Guess he's a good fellow, and deserves to succeed," said Hank, +settling himself into a corner. "When next we see him it'll be spring +or later hereabouts, and things will have changed wonderfully. +There'll be a pile of people here compared with what's settled now. +That's always the case; every year makes a huge difference. Shouldn't +wonder if the plots you've bought didn't bring you in a small fortune; +but of course it's a toss up." + +Joe watched the surroundings as they pulled out of the station, noting +the many shacks in the distance, and the fact that nearer the railway +some of the older settlers had replaced their log dwellings by +neatly-boarded houses. It was close to some of these that he himself, +with the advice of Hank and Peter, had purchased certain portions of +vacant ground in the hope that, as time passed, a township might spring +up, and thereby make his purchases more valuable. As to Hurley's +quarter section, the winter being on them, it happened that there was +no one who cared to purchase, and Joe had picked it up at a very modest +figure. + +"You jest forget all about them things and set yer mind to the +expedition we're after," said Hank, after a while. "Fust we goes along +to Sudbury, where we can buy all that we want; then we sets off for +Fennick's. Guess we'll put in a week with him, and then strike off for +the country we're after. Maybe we'll get a bit of huntin', and seems +to me we should be wise, for a pelt or two will be useful for +bedcovering. Of course you've got to be able to stand the cold, +youngster. There's lots would think this job but madness. But a man +can easy stand the winter ef he's in hard condition, and particularly +ef he's in amongst the forests. As to bear, why, seeing as they +hibernate, there ain't much chance of meeting the beasts, though it do +happen sometimes that one of them gets disturbed, and then, ef he ain't +too sleepy, jest you look out fer ructions. I don't know of any animal +that's so tarnation dangerous as a bear, 'cept perhaps a caribou, and +he's jest every bit as bad as, they tell me, is a rhinoceros. Ever +hunted, lad?" + +Joe was forced to admit that he had not. "Never had the chance," he +answered. "Minding a cycle shop for Father didn't give one +opportunities of going hunting, and besides, there isn't much to be had +in England, not of the sort you mean." + +Of a sudden, as they sped along in the train, his thoughts went back to +the little township in which he had spent his boyhood, till the moment +had arrived for him to emigrate. He could not help but contrast his +condition here in Canada with what it had been there, and with what it +might have been had he remained. Travel and the wide expanse of New +Ontario lands had broadened Joe's mind, as it is bound to broaden the +outlook that any traveller takes of the world. Joe was, in fact, +beginning to realize that there is some truth in the statement that +travel is one of the finest educations. + +"In course it is," asserted Hank, when he broached the subject, with +the idea of starting up a conversation with the little hunter. "How +could it fail to be? Don't I know the lives of them stay-at-homes. +They work hard, no doubt. They does their whack of toil that helps to +make the earth turn round, as you might say, and keep things hummin'; +but, 'cept for the papers and sichlike, they ain't got two ideas as to +what other people's like, what they does with themselves, and how they +lives. And there's more, too, ef I could tell you. Stay-at-homes is +sometimes narrow-minded. Narrow-mindedness gives rise to suspicion, so +that it follows that men who are ignorant of one another's affairs and +of all that concerns 'em is often not too good friends. That's how it +is with nations. One don't know the other, and suspects all sorts of +things. Wall, see what's happenin'. The railways and the steamships +and them motor cars has made a deal of difference. People move about a +heap these days and see other people. So they get to understand 'em, +and, understandin' them, they see as they ain't much different to +themselves; also, they see that their intentions are just as friendly +as their own. And what follows? Why, better understanding, and the +way is paved to international friendships. Dear, how jawin' do tire a +man! I'm on fer a smoke." + +He shut up like the proverbial oyster, leaving Joe to go on immersed in +his own particular brown study. He was wondering now what the Fennicks +had been doing with themselves, for though he had had a few lines from +them, he had had but the scantiest information; he had heard, in fact, +that they had settled, and that was all. Whether they had been +fortunate in finding exactly the class of surroundings they desired, +and whether the land they had chosen was rich, he had no idea. This he +knew, they were a two-days' march from the railway, so that he and Hank +had a long step before them. + +"Guess we'll fill up at Sudbury," said Hank, after a while. "There's a +gun wanted fer you, and ammunition for both of us. A shooter, too, +ain't out of the way. We shall require warm clothing, too, though +we'll trust to our shooting to get us pelts and make the most of those. +A kettle, a fry-pan, and a few sich trifles will fill our kit, and then +we'll step it to the Fennicks'. Guess we ain't so far from Sudbury +now." + +They found all they required in the town to which they had booked on +the railway, and laid out quite a number of dollars in buying +necessaries for their journey; for Hank insisted that salt, sugar, +coffee, and tea were as necessary to them as were bullets. Each bought +three pairs of thick socks, as well as roughly-fashioned fur gloves. +The cooking equipment presented no difficulties, while neither bothered +to buy extra boots. + +"They'd load us up, that's all," said Hank; "besides, they ain't no use +with snowshoes. You wait a bit till we're well away. We'll bag a few +beasts that will give us skins, and then ef Hank can't make moccasins +and caps and sichlike, why, all his eddication in the woods is lost. +We've got enough as it is to carry, and come the time we reaches up at +Fennicks' we'll be sorry we brought so much." + +"What about some sort of covering for the night?" asked Joe, who was as +yet ignorant on such matters. + +"Coverin'?" asked Hank, scratching his head. + +"Yes; surely we shall need it. It'll be frightfully cold, that is, if +the story I have heard is true." + +"True enough, lad," agreed Hank; "only, yer see, you and I'll be movin' +every day, and exercise on snowshoes warms a man's blood. I know lots +of young fellows who go off from their farms when snow's lyin' +everywhere and the thermometer is 'way down below zero; but their +shirts is open in front jest as ef it war summer, while they ain't got +no use fer gloves. We'll be much the same, while at night a lean-to--a +double lean-to, you understand--made by driving two forked sticks into +the snow and laying one across the forks, with others leaning up agin +it, will give us a crib that couldn't be beaten fer warmth. I kin hear +folks that stays at home always shiverin' talkin' of rheumatism; but +there ain't nothing of that. A man who starts healthy through a +Canadian winter can keep healthy. Of course there's blizzards, and +nasty, dangerous things they are! I've laid in one of them lean-to +shacks as I've mentioned fer a week together till the snow was piled +deep over the top, and would ha' broken through ef I hadn't crawled out +every few hours and beaten it down. Cold? It warn't! It war hot +inside that 'ere crib. As fer lonely, wall, to some folks it might be, +but to me and mates like me--no, not bit! There's always a gun wants +cleaning; logs has to be broke and the fire kept going, and there's tea +and sichlike to prepare; while in between a man's got his pipe, and can +smoke and think. Thinkin' ain't bad fer a man, nor fer a woman, ef it +comes to that. There's many a time 'way back in my life when I might +ha' done different and better. Wall, then, rememberin' that aer good; +it's a sort of eddication. Then there's friends that you've knowed and +had high times with. Guess it's when a man gets stuck up in a +blizzard, with only his pipe to smoke, that he gets thinking of his old +pals, wondering what they're doing, where they are, and how the world +aer going fer them generally." + +"But what about frostbite?" asked Joe, for that was a bogy which had +been presented to him in glaring colours. + +Hank laughed, a silent little laugh which shook every inch of his frail +body. "Them old woman's tales was invented to scare new folks out from +home," he said. "There's frostbites and there's frostbites. I ain't +saying that they don't exist, but a hunter don't often get 'em, unless +he's held up somewheres and can't get cover. His blood runs strong and +hot most times, and the frost don't touch him. But it's the man who +ain't used to the cold, and who huddles up in a shack most of the day, +that gets bitten. Ef he's sensible, or has sensible friends, it don't +make much harm to him. Ef not, like as not he loses a toe or a finger, +or maybe a foot, though it's rare, so far as I'm able to reckon. You +ain't likely to get bit; a chap same as you, who's always on the hop, +gets his blood runnin' all the time. Don't you give a thought to it, +Joe." + +Having stayed in the town sufficiently long to complete their +equipment, Joe and Hank finally took the track for that part of the +country in which the Fennicks had settled. The weather was still quite +open, though cold. But the bracing air agreed wonderfully with them +both, and though there was not the smallest need for haste, they +stepped out strongly, sending the miles rapidly behind them. It was +some distance outside the town that they came upon a party of +travellers riding in, and recognized Mike, the policeman, as one of +them. + +"Hallo, Mike!" sang out Hank. "Been after more of them 'ere murderers? +How'd the case go with Hurley? This here Joe ha' been waitin' case he +should be called for evidence; but he heard a while ago as he warn't +likely to be wanted." + +The face of the huge policeman, already tanned a deep colour, went red +under his tan, while an expression of annoyance flitted across his +features. + +"We made a muss of that 'ere thing, Hank," he declared. "Joe wasn't +called for the simple reason that the folks who'd taken Hurley in +charge let him give 'em the slip. He got clear away, and I'm jest now +returning after a chase. He's gone--where, I don't know. But he's got +clear, which aer a bad nuisance. Jest you mind that you don't come up +agin him. He's not the one to forget old scores, and he'd rub it in ef +he'd the power. Wall, so long! I must get back and report; someone's +going to get trouble over this business." + +They parted where they had met, Hank and Joe pushing onward still at a +sharp pace. + +"I'm jest sorry that Hurley got clear," said Hank, after a while, as if +he had been thinking the matter out. "He's a bad man aer Hurley, and +bad men away in the wilds are apt to bring trouble to people. I've +knowed one who took up with a party of Redskins wandering in the +forests, and, gee! he didn't stop at anything. He'd made bad trouble +before the police rounded him up and shot him down. Let's hope we +shan't knock across this Hurley. Now, lad, guess we'll do another mile +or so and then fix our camp fer the night. Looks ter me as ef it might +snow, so we'll be wise to make all snug and tidy." + +They came to a halt finally beside a small wood, and, penetrating to a +part where the trees were of considerable size, deposited their +belongings on the ground. + +"Don't do to camp where it's damp, in the fust place," explained Hank. +"Where there's muskegs the trees soon rot, and ef a wind springs up you +might have the trunks coming about your ears, to say nothing of rotten +branches. This place is high and dry, and the trees, being stout and +well inside the wood, will stand up to a gale. Now fer that shack I +was talking about. Look out fer a tidy long-forked stick, and fer +other straight ones to lay across." + +Hank was evidently a past master at all that appertained to camping, +for even without Joe's aid he would soon have erected the shack. +Taking two forked sticks, he drove the straight end in each case as +deeply into the ground as he was able; a third was laid over the forks, +and then a number were allowed to lean against the one laid +horizontally. Thus a species of _tente d'abri_ was constructed, and a +roofing quickly put to it, by the simple means of slashing off spruce +twigs and branches and laying them on top. + +"That ain't always enough," explained Hank. "Ef there's a bad wind, it +would blow all them branches away. But it don't take long to cut turfs +or to peg the branches down, whichever you've a fancy for. Seein' as +the ground in here ain't over-hard, we'll take turfs; the wind won't +hurt 'em, and ef it turns to rain instead o' snow, why, not a drop'll +fall through. Now fer a bed--one between us, mate, for we'll be +companions in every way. A pile of these spruce twigs will suit us +well; then we'll light the fire and get the kettle going. A pot of tea +with a morsel to bite won't come amiss after our march. How do yer +think you'll like prospecting?" + +Joe did not think; he was emphatic about the matter, for the farther +they went the better he enjoyed the trip. He busied himself now with +the fire, for, during the chase of Hurley, George Bailey had taught him +much that concerned the culinary portion of a camp. Then he produced a +small loin of pork, and, cutting portions from it, soon had them +sizzling over the flames. + +"My, what with the smell of these here spruce boughs and that 'ere +pork, it makes a hunter's mouth jest water!" declared Hank, sitting +down to watch Joe, and smoking the pipe which he loved so much. "See +here, youngster, while you're gettin' supper ready I'll collect a few +more logs. There's never any sayin' what sort of weather we may have, +and ef we was short of firin' we'd have to eat cold grub, which ain't +over fanciful, I kin tell you." + +By the time he was back in the camp Joe had a number of pieces of pork +cooked, and was fain to admit himself that the smell of cooking them +was most appetizing. Then, as the shades of night drew in, he and +Hank--as strangely an assorted couple as one could well come upon--sat +down in the entrance of their humble shack and, wrapping blankets about +their shoulders, ate their supper, enjoying every mouthful of it as +others cannot do, even your gourmet set before the most recherche meal +that was ever invented; for an active open-air life gives zest to +everything. Your traveller does not complain of the toughness of his +steak or of the weakness of his tea. He is thankful for all that is +set before him, and with appetite sharpened by exercise, and tastes +unspoiled and unpampered by a multiplicity of viands and etceteras, +eats heartily, thankful that there is food to be had, mindful perhaps +of other times when he went hungry. + +"Wind's turned," stated Hank, as he rose after supper. "It's got away +round, and we're in for a north-easter. That mostly brings snow, so I +shouldn't wonder ef we was buried nigh the mornin'. That means +snowshoes, and it aer a lucky thing that I brought all the fixings. +There's many as buys their snowshoes. I ain't one of them. Ever sense +I was as high as a table I've made 'em myself. Throw on another log, +Joe, and let's get snug down inside. And jest for a moment have a look +at our shack. You can see that I've faced it so that the opening looks +west and south. Ef there's snow from the north-east it won't enter so +easy, though, in course, there'll be eddies in here amongst the trees, +and some of it'll be blowed in." + +Tossing branches on the fire, Joe soon joined his comrade, when the two +wrapped their blankets round them and were quickly asleep; but at +midnight they were awakened by noise without, and crept to the exit of +their shack. + +"Blowin' moderate," said Hank, "and my, ain't it snowin'! Lucky +there's a moon. It makes it look as ef the weather wouldn't be +outrageous." + +Joe was enchanted when he looked out into the forest. It was his first +real taste of a Canadian winter; for here, besides the cold blast which +whistled amongst the trees, there was snow. Flakes eddied and twirled +everywhere. They came sidling down upon the shack as if afraid to +disturb the campers. They had already formed a white carpet over the +ground, while many a branch was groaning beneath the added weight. +Under the rays of a pale, wintry moon the scene was simply enchanting. + +"Beautiful!" declared our hero. "And just fancy being in camp at such +a time! It would make them all sit up and have fits away back in Old +England." + +"It'd make men of some of them that needs changin'," grunted Hank. +"You jest wait a tidy bit. This ain't nothing to what we'll get before +we've done with the winter. But let's creep back agin'. It ain't too +warm outside, and reckon the inside of that 'ere shack aer as +comfortable as a feather bed under the roof of a palace." + +It was, in fact. Joe's head hardly touched the heaped pillow of twigs +when he fell asleep, and slumbered on, oblivious of the increasing +sounds without and of the silent snowflakes settling overhead. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +The Canadian Winter + +"It aer jest blowin' an almighty gale, and there ain't nothing to do +but feed and make our snowshoes," said Hank, when early on the +following morning he and Joe looked out of the shack. "It aer a lucky +thing fer us that we brought a tidy-sized piece of pork along with us, +'cos this gale might last fer days. Not as I think it will, but it +might; and ef we hadn't had plenty of grub, gee! it would ha' been a +bad case." + +Such a prospect met Joe's gaze when he stood to his full height and, +having helped to throw the snow away from the entrance of the shack, +peered over the white edge before him! The trees on either hand were +heavily laden with snow. Branches here and there had crashed to the +ground and lay in an unrecognizable heap, save for a twig here or a +stronger bough there thrusting a way upward into the light; for all +around everything was covered, smoothly clad in an all-pervading +vestment of white. Gorgeous blue shadows lurked here and there, the +faintness of the colouring adding to its beauty. Long icicles, beside +which those to be seen in England were but babies, hung from branches +already overweighted, one, a ponderous fellow, drooping to within a few +feet of the shack; for the heat of the fire had melted the snow as it +fell upon a branch above, and had produced this monster with the help +of the frost. + +"You kin get in at breakfast," said Hank, looking about him with the +manner of a man who saw nothing extraordinary about the transformation +which had arrived since the day before. "The fire's been out this two +hours, so you'd best start another." + +Joe showed his want of experience at once, for he began to rake away +the snow, so as to get down to the ashes of the fire he had built on +the evening of their arrival. But Hank stopped him with a merry guffaw. + +"That ain't the way," he said. "You start buildin' yer fire right here +on top of the snow. It'll eat its way down. Yer see, ef you was to +begin right down in a hole, there wouldn't be any sorter draught, and +how's flames to get in at the damp wood ef you don't have draught to +help 'em? But once they get movin', and things is hot, why, in course +the fire burns its way slowly downward to the ground level, when there +ain't sich draught required." + +It was one of the sort of things Joe and many another new to this +country, and to such quaint surroundings, would never have thought of, +though he was quick to see the reason in Hank's explanation. He +arranged his logs, therefore, on the top of the snow, and then removed +them once more. + +"Wall?" asked Hank, who seemed always to have one eye for our hero, +whatever he happened to be doing himself. "What are the game now?" + +"Too much draught, that's all," grinned Joe, blowing on his fingers, +for an icy wind whirled the flakes about him. "Too much of it, Hank. +Blow the fire out or set our shack alight. Fine that'd be--eh?" + +The little hunter grinned widely and nodded vigorously. "Good fer +you," he shouted. "I've knowd chaps as would ha' taken a month o' +Sundays ter spot that. There's some as is jest almighty windbags, and +go about talkin' so much that they can't think, let alone allow others +that has a mind to. There's something in bein' silent at times, Joe. +A man ain't a fool 'cos he stays quiet takin' in things as they happen." + +He sniffed the air as Joe's pork steaks began to frizzle, and looked up +from the work he was engaged on when the kettle began to send out a +merry tune, heard in spite of the howling wind. Steam whistled from +the spout, and was the signal for Hank to step across to the canteen +and extract the tea leaves which were to form their staple beverage +during the trip. + +"Tea aer comfortin'," he had said many a time, "and tea aer sustainin'. +There ain't a one as I knows of that don't drink tea and feel better +fer it. In course there's a few as is ill and find it hurts 'em, but, +gee! you get to thinkin' of all the old ladies who swears by a cup! As +fer hunters and prospectors and sich-like, tea don't hurt none of 'em. +Summertime, when it's cold, it quenches thirst better nor anything I've +met. And winter, when it's that cold you can't feel yer hands, why, a +tin dish of the stuff warms yer right down into yer boots and sets toes +and fingers tingling. Pitch in the dose, lad. I'm that set this +mornin', seems to me I could eat all you've cooked single-handed, and a +tidy slice more in addition." + +It was all good-humoured fun, and Joe found that Hank was a splendid +travelling companion; for he had proved time and again now that he had +a means to get over more than ordinary difficulties, and that whatever +the times, pleasant or foul, he was genial and bright, always looking +on the right side of misfortunes. + +"Now, jest as soon as you've cleaned up these here things, we'll finish +off the shoes and try 'em," said Hank, when they had eaten their fill. +"I brought along these two sets of frames from home, they being the +ones I made this four year back. The strip to go across 'em war to be +had back there in the settlement, and all we've got to do is to bind it +on. Ever been across snow afore, lad?" + +Joe had to acknowledge that he had not. As he melted snow in his +kettle and washed the few tin utensils they carried with the resulting +water, he watched the busy fingers of the hunter threading raw hide +strips through holes bored in the tough, bending wood which formed the +frames of the snowshoes. Then he was shown how to lash them to his +feet, while a little later he essayed to test them, and, clambering out +of the hollow which they now occupied, joined Hank on the snow. But +Joe did not remain long there; a projecting bough brought his attempt +to a sudden ending. One shoe caught badly, and before our hero knew +precisely what was happening or where he was going, he took a header +into the soft snow, till Hank could merely see a pair of shoes waving +wildly above it. + +"You jest try agin, and take care of snags comin' up from below," he +cautioned our hero. "This here snowshoein' ain't really difficult. A +fellow soon gets the knack or hang of it, and then he can go across +frozen and snowed-under country quicker'n he could walk ef the ground +was hard and he jest in boots. You stick to it, mate; nothing was ever +larned but what caused trouble." + +Joe did stick to it, in spite of the wind howling about him, and though +he took many a tumble, there was nothing in that soft, unfrozen snow to +do him injury; and in course of time he became more handy. + +"You ain't done badly fer one lesson," said Hank encouragingly. "Best +give in for a time now and go inside the shack. It aer snowin' a +trifle harder, and sense it's gettin' dark too, it seems to me as ef +the wust war before us. We'll smoke and sleep; a long rest won't harm +either of us. 'Sides, there's heaps we could do. Now, see here, Joe. +I don't rightly know much about England, nor more'n a little bit about +Europe. Jest you get in at the job and tell me about it all. When +you're tired I'll yarn to you all about the other provinces in Canada, +for I've been in most of 'em. It might turn out handy for you, for one +of these days you may be going west. They say out here that a settler +in Manitoba or Ontario stays jest so long as is wanted to make enough +dollars, then he streaks off west and takes to fruit farming, or +settles nigh to Vancouver. In course he goes so as to have more folks +about him, and also because the winter is a good deal less severe. Fer +me, give me this sort of thing; I ain't afraid of winter." + +Hank was a cheery individual to have to deal with and Joe found him, as +one might have expected, a most attentive and intelligent listener. It +was well, too, that they got on so easily together, for the gale lasted +some twenty-four hours longer, though snow ceased to fall long before +the wind had subsided. This change was followed by a sudden rise in +temperature and then by a fierce frost. + +"Couldn't have been better fer us," declared Hank. "That 'ere thaw +made the snow soft and sloppy on top. Now it's all ice, and it aer +likely we shall be able in parts to walk without snowshoes. In any +case, the shoes will hold us up over the deepest drifts, seein' that +there's now a firm skin all over. Guess we'll move come mornin'." + +Busy always, for he could not sit down, in spite of his own statements +to the contrary, and remain idle, Hank that evening, with the aid of a +torch of the yellow birch bark, instructed Joe how to fashion +moccasins, the soft leather socks and boots combined, with which all +trappers and hunters are shod. Using some of the same hide which he +had employed for the snowshoes, he laid out a pattern in a few moments, +and then, with the small blade of a knife to bore the holes, and a thin +lace of the same material, laced the sides of the sock together. + +"In course, like that it ain't waterproof," he said, "and though +trappers ain't so very careful, yet ef you've to march miles in +moccasins, and has to sleep in 'em during the night, you might jest as +well have comfort and dry feet. We'll march along in these to-morrow. +It'll be easier than using snowshoes, for the surface is nice and hard. +Soon as we kill a beast or two we'll make ourselves an extra pair, so +as to have a change." + +A brilliant wintry sun flooded the landscape as the two emerged from +the forest on the following morning, and Joe got some idea of Canada's +appearance once winter has set in. Everywhere a mantle of snow covered +the ground, while trees, bushes, and rocks were clad in a thin coating +of ice following the thaw. As for the surface of the snow, it was +harder than that so much in request for skiing in Switzerland. The +sharp thaw had liquefied the surface for a depth of perhaps half an +inch, and this was now frozen hard. + +"Likely as not there'll come another thaw," said Hank, "and in a jiffy +almost all this snow'll go, and the country be jest as it war before. +But that won't last long. Now that November's set in, we soon gets +winter fer good, and then it ain't till late March that there's a sign +of its ending. Sometimes it's later; sometimes earlier. But once the +snow's down, we gets bright days same as this often enough, and though +the thermometer may show thirty and forty degrees below zero, one don't +seem to feel it. Now, lad, put yer best foot forward; we ain't goin' +to fetch up at Fennick's to-night. This here snow'll delay us; but +ter-morrer, somewheres about noon." + +With their packs slung over their backs, and each one using a strong +stick, the two went away on their journey, sometimes travelling over a +smooth expanse which must have been the surface of some frozen lake, of +which there are many in that part of Canada, and at other times +plunging into forests. The backwoods, in fact, extended as far as the +eye could reach, with open spaces here and there. Joe enjoyed the +journey amazingly. Think of the delights of such a new experience. +Well clad, and in suitable clothing, he was as warm as a toast, while +the unwonted exercise and the crispness of the frosty air made him step +out as he had never done before. Hank even was hard put to to keep up +with his young comrade. + +"Blest ef you won't tire me one of these fine days," he cried, calling +for a halt. "It's them long legs of yourn; they takes you along over +the snow quicker'n mine. Do yer feel lonely, lad?" + +Joe shook his head with marked emphasis. "Not a bit," he said, "though +if I were by myself I might very well do so. But there's something new +to look at all the while, and the sun is so jolly. Still, I can +imagine a farm hand, stuck away in some place right away from the +villages or townships, eating his heart out if he had never been used +to the wilds." + +"Jest so; and that's why it is that bad tales of Canadian winters gets +out of the Dominion and reaches the ears of those thinkin' of +emigrating. It stands to reason that ef you take a young fellow that's +lived in a thickly-populated town all his life and plank him away right +in the wilds, he aer likely to feel lonesome come the winter, specially +ef he ain't got move enough on him to find a job or so to occupy his +time. He'll get thinking of the picture palaces and sichlike he might +be able to see ef he was back in a town, and he gets grumbling. Even +married folks do. I've knowed a chap go half crazy long afore the +winter was ended--but then, there you are!" + +He raised his eyes significantly, for Hank had experience of what every +old settler has seen amongst newcomers. The life in the Dominion is +new to them. The winter is cruelly hard, without a shadow of doubt; +but grumbling does not help matters. Those who are ready to grumble at +their surroundings find the winter more than trying. Those who have +their hearts in the new life, and the firm resolve to persevere and be +successful, make the most and the best of what cannot be avoided, and +in place of longing for old conditions, for the amusements of a town, +settle down to find tasks to occupy their attention. As Hank had told +Joe before, and Peter also, there was always furniture to be made for +the shack. The winter months, when the shack was as warm as possible, +was just the time when papering and whitewashing could be done. There +were, in fact, a number of jobs to keep idle hands busy, to help pass +the time, and to aid settlers to happiness. However, if the winter +were hard elsewhere, Joe found this, his first experience of it, most +exhilarating. He trudged along blithely, whistling often. It was a +couple of hours after noon, when they had eaten and were on their way +once more, that something occurred to interrupt the journey. They were +thrusting their way noiselessly through a wooded glade, when Hank +brought his companion to a stop. + +"There's been moose hereabouts," he told Joe, pointing to the snow. +"You could tell it blindfold, for though there ain't no footmarks, +there's deep holes. Yer see, a moose is that heavy and his feet so +small comparatively, that the hard crust of snow that's frozen ain't +strong enough to hold him up. He goes through deep ef he's making a +new track, while ef he and his mates has been along afore, there's a +deep hard path that there ain't no mistakin'. There's been jest one +along here; it's likely they has a yard 'way up here." + +"A yard?" asked Joe, ignorant of what that might be. "What's a yard?" + +"Jest a place to which moose flock every winter almost. In course it's +more or less open ground what's known as a 'barren', and there is +always heaps of the class of trees and moss on which they feed. They +congregates and treads the snow flat, and lives there till their food +is eaten; then off they goes to form another. Jest you slip along +easy, lad; a bull moose ain't the sorter fellow one asks to come up +aginst." + +A mile or so farther on it was evident that the moose whose tracks they +were following, and who happened to have preceded them in their own +direction, joined a well-worn track which plunged at once into forest. +It was then that Hank again came to a sudden halt. + +"Did you hear that sort of cough?" he asked. "That's a bull moose fer +sure; 'praps we'll come in fer some shootin'. Anyway, reckon we'll get +our guns unslung and ready in case." + +Slipping cartridges into the breaches of their rifles, the two +proceeded cautiously, and before many minutes had passed heard a +succession of sounds which puzzled Joe immensely. Someone might have +been thrashing the trunks of the trees with a heavy stake; at times the +sounds were almost metallic, while now and again an angry cough came to +their ears. + +"It aer a moose bull fer sure," whispered Hank. "Yer see, the wind's +fallen and there ain't a breath, else he'd have scented us long ago; +what's more, there's been something happenin' to upset his temper. +Bull moose aer the angriest, fiercest things as ever I clapped eyes on. +One moment they'll run at the very shadow of a human, and next they'll +charge with their heads up and their spreading antlers ready for the +enemy. Hark there, he's 'sounding'!" + +When our hero had the latter term explained to him, he gathered that it +meant that the moose, scenting an enemy or a rival bull moose, perhaps, +had halted and was thrashing some tree stump with his antlers, till a +succession of blows sounded through the forest, for all the world as if +lumbermen were at work with their axes. Then followed a series of +lower-toned noises. + +"He aer fairly working hisself up fer a fight," whispered Hank, +crouching behind a trunk. "That 'ere bull moose aer laying into the +trees with his fore hoofs, and lucky we are that it ain't us. Their +fore hoofs is just edged as sharp as any axe and would cut badly, while +a dig with the antlers would kill a man. You kin lay it as sartin that +there's another bull moose around. Mayhap there's been a cow moose +a-callin'. That's brought two of the others along, and now, ef I ain't +altogether mistaken, there's likely to be an almighty ruction, for it +ain't in reason fer one moose to give way to another; they're terrible +fighters. Jest about this time o' the year they're in grand condition, +and fights take place constantly. I ain't never seed one, but I've +come up to moose as was in them as was nigh killed. Come along +quietly; we may have a peep at what's happenin'." + +Creeping on through the wood, the strange sounds which they had heard +were for a time altogether absent. But it was not for long, for a dull +croaking cough suddenly reached them from an opposite direction, and +was followed instantly by loud and furious "sounding" and by a huge +clatter that told of falling branches. Ten minutes later Hank put up +his hand and slank in behind a thick mass of underwood. + +"Look away over there," he whispered hoarsely. "He aer hidin' jest in +amongst the trees, and another challenge from his rival will bring him +out. Ain't he layin' into the trunks and sichlike?" + +The noise made by the furious beast became in fact even greater, while +there was a commotion amongst the branches and withered leaves which +still clung in places. A second later there came a croaking roar from +some point to the right, the trees in that direction were thrust +asunder, while a magnificent beast pushed its way into the clearing. +Joe's eyes opened wide in amazement, for never had he beheld such a +sight. There, standing erect before him, was one of the wonders of the +Dominion; in fact, one of the deer tribe peculiar to Canada, which, +unlike ordinary deer, noted for their timidity, was obviously the +reverse. A coat of shimmering black clothed the beast, setting off a +neck and shoulders which were decidedly massive; huge palmated antlers +of enormous breadth crowned a head which was large, like other portions +of this animal, and extremely fierce in aspect. Grand upper limbs +supported on slender lower ones, both streaked with orange lines, were +finished off by shapely hoofs, which, as Hank had said, could be +extremely dangerous. The animal made a truly magnificent spectacle, +and Joe could have continued gazing at him for a considerable time. +However, there was more to come yet, for of a sudden the leaves away to +the right parted, and a second moose bull, bigger if anything than he +who had already appeared, came striding into the arena. + +"It'll be a fight that'll be worth watchin'," whispered Hank, his face +set with excitement, his eyes blazing. "See 'em charge." + +It took perhaps less than a minute for the two rivals to take stock of +one another. A glance at either showed that their courage was raised +to the highest and their tempers ferocious. Then they charged +furiously, their heads down and their formidable antlers to the front. +The shock of their meeting could have been heard a mile away, while Joe +could easily hear their loud hissing breathing. Rising very cautiously +so as to obtain a better view, he looked on spellbound while the two +massive beasts fought for the victory, sometimes with their antlers +locked, and then, separating for a little space, only to dash forward +once more and come into contact with a crash which vibrated through the +forest. It was at one of the moments when they withdrew from one +another, as if to gather strength for another charge, that the brute +Joe and Hank had first come upon suddenly threw up his head and gazed +in their direction, causing both of them to crouch lower; then there +came a bellowing roar and a commotion there could be no +misunderstanding. + +"He's scented us and is charging," cried Hank, leaping to his feet. +"There ain't nothing for it but a tree. Quick, Joe; climb into one!" + +So sudden had been the change, that our hero was altogether taken aback +and, as it were, robbed of his energies. He could be quick enough at +other times, but now, when there was urgent need for haste, his feet +seemed too heavy, while as yet he had hardly taken in the danger of the +situation. It was when he saw Hank's active figure already shinning up +a tree that Joe awakened to his own position. By then the moose was +within some ten yards of him, its head down, coughing and bellowing +angrily. + +"Dodge him! Dodge him!" shouted Hank, now astride a branch and looking +as if he were about to leap down to aid his comrade. "Don't try to +climb, or he'll cut you to pieces with his hoofs. Dodge him, lad!" + +Joe heeded the warning, and, darting to one side, took cover behind a +slender oak which happened to be there. But if he thought it would +protect him he was much mistaken, for the moose charged madly, and, +striking the tree with head and antlers, broke it off short at the +bottom, sending the other portion and our hero flying together. In +fact, the whole thing was a huge surprise, and might well have been +expected to rob Joe of his wits altogether. But a sharp pang in his +shoulder as the trunk struck him heavily seemed to sharpen his +energies, and, leaping to his feet, he raced at once to another tree +and sheltered behind it. Then began a chase that was anything but +amusing, for the moose bull struck repeatedly at him, making the tree +shake, and sending the sound of his blows echoing and reverberating +through the forest. He rose on his hind legs and slashed fiercely with +his fore legs, ripping long strips of bark away. It looked, in fact, +as if any one of his rushes might take Joe unawares, and that his +dodging behind the tree might come to a sudden ending. As for Hank, he +was entirely helpless, for it was this selfsame tree in which he had +taken refuge, while his own and our hero's rifles lay behind the thick +underwood where they had been hiding. However, the little man was not +the one to give in without a struggle, more particularly when Joe's +life might depend upon his efforts, and presently a brilliant thought +came to his aid. + +[Illustration: THE MOOSE CHARGED MADLY] + +"Jest keep dodging him," he sang out encouragingly. "Ef he ain't +reached you yet he ain't likely to. Jest keep well clear of his hoofs +and out of sight of the brute as much as you can. He ain't as fresh as +he war, and that'll help us." + +The cunning hunter rapidly unwound the long piece of raw hide that he +had cut for use on the snowshoes, and which, having more than he +required, he had carried with him since, in case of renewals being +wanted. Perhaps he had as much as eight feet, perhaps there was less; +but, in any case, it was as tough and strong as any rope ever +constructed. While Joe continued to dodge the angry moose, now +escaping his attacks with comparative ease--for he had regained his +coolness--Hank made one end of his rope fast to the tree, looped the +other, and then crawled out on the branch. + +"Jest get him to come dodging round this way," he said hoarsely. "Ef I +hooks him, you make a run fer one of the guns, and then climb into the +nearest tree. This rope won't hold him overlong, but it'll do to let +you get clear. Now, I'm ready." + +Joe merely required to show himself plainly for the maddened moose to +come dodging after him. The huge antlers, as hard almost as steel, +struck the tree a resounding clang, then the fore feet were used till +strips of bark were flying. Slowly Joe edged round the trunk, luring +the animal after him, till a lucky move brought the moose directly +under Hank. + +"Git ready!" he shouted, at the same time dropping one foot and kicking +the antlers. Instantly the beast raised his head, and like lightning +Hank slipped his noose over one of the broad branches. + +"Run!" he bellowed. "Don't ferget the gun, or we'll be both of us +fixed for days together." + +It may be imagined that Joe did run. He dashed across the open space +to the spot where their rifles were lying, turning his head to see what +was happening. If he had felt less confidence in the little hunter, +there is small doubt that he would have neglected to pick up a weapon; +for the fury of the moose on seeing his movement was terrible. It +lowered its head and dashed after him, till the strong hide rope +brought it up with a jerk that threatened to snap the noose. Then +began a mad struggle on the part of the moose for freedom. Rearing up +on its hind legs, it struck out with its fore feet, almost reaching the +bough on which Hank was seated. It backed and tugged, it fell to the +ground, trusting by those means to tear itself free; then it dashed +this way and that, arrested on each occasion with a mighty jerk that +actually shook the tree. + +"Even a chain wouldn't stand much more of such tugging," shouted Hank, +watching Joe anxiously out of the corner of his eye. "You be slippy +with that gun, lad, or else we'll lose him. Ah, that's a relief! He's +into a tree. Now, wonder what sort of shooting he'll make. Say, lad," +he called out loudly, "take him when he lifts his head, and put a +bullet into his shoulder jest about where the neck joins it. Steady, +Joe; you're puffed. Pull yerself together." + +If our hero had attempted a shot then, there is little doubt but that +he would have missed entirely, for what with the active movements of +the moose and his own trembling fingers, a sure aim was more than +difficult. However, he did as he was ordered. Bracing his legs round +a branch, he brought the butt of his weapon firmly to his shoulder, +then, choosing a moment when the animal lifted its head, he sent a +bullet crashing into it. A yell from Hank told him, even before the +thin cloud of smoke had cleared away, that he had been successful. + +"Good fer you! Killed him dead!" Joe heard, and, looking down, saw the +huge bulk of the animal stretched on the snow, thick steam still +issuing from the nostrils. + +Let us be strictly truthful again with regard to our hero. Joe was +shaking in every limb as he dropped to the ground and stood over the +fallen animal; for excitement had told upon his nerves, as yet +unaccustomed to such strenuous moments. + +"You don't need to be ashamed," said Hank, seeing that Joe looked +downcast. "I've seen many an older chap all of a shiver with +excitement when the thing was over. The main thing aer that you kept +your head and held your sights straight when they was wanted. This +here exhibition will have given you a good idea of the moose that roams +about Canada, and next time you meet one don't wait too long for his +charge. I've known a man to be skewered on those antlers afore you +could shout, and killed jest as dead as possible. Reckon we'll skin +the brute and take his head. It'll be a fine gift for the Fennicks." + +They spent the remainder of the day in skinning the moose and in +removing the skull and antlers. Indeed, they camped beside the +carcass, not troubling themselves about the other brute, which had +retreated at the very beginning of their adventure. That night, for +the first time in his young life, Joe cooked moose steaks over the fire +and ate of meat of his own getting. + +"Prime, ain't it?" grinned Hank, as he devoured a savoury morsel. "But +you wait; there'll be more huntin' before we've done with this here +expedition." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A Co-operative Proposition + +It was rather later than they had anticipated when Hank and Joe arrived +at Sam Fennick's shack on the following day; for again a thaw had set +in--not the "silver thaw" so much prized in Canada, which they had +previously experienced, and which, by freezing the upper layer of snow +and, as it were, laying a sound crust upon it, had enabled them to make +good progress, but a thaw unaccompanied by change, or, to be exact, not +followed by a succeeding frost. They finished their journey, +therefore, through a snowy slush, sinking often above their knees, +while their moccasins and their feet were wringing wet and very cold. + +Shouts greeted them. + +"Why, if it ain't Joe!" came from Sam heartily, in his well-known +bellowing tones, while the ineradicable cockney accent was obviously +there; in fact, it was an accent of which Sam was proud. It was +something never likely to leave him however long he remained in Canada, +and however much he interlarded his conversation with Americanisms. +"Missus, it's Joe!" he shouted, turning his head over his shoulder. +Then he dashed forward, seized our hero's hand, and squeezed it till +the latter almost winced. + +"Howdy?" he exclaimed, swinging on Hank. "Introduce us." + +"Hank," said Joe shortly, "hunter and trapper, a friend of mine. Hank, +this is Sam Fennick; but----" + +"In course I knows Sam," cried Hank, stretching out his wiry little +paw, but one, nevertheless, which could give a grip that would make a +strong man squirm. After all, outside the polite society of London and +other large cities, where very vigorous handshaking is not looked on +with favour, men often enough, the rough men of the plain, the prairie, +the backwoods farm, and of the forest, exchange greetings with an +earnestness there is no denying. Such men do not simper and dangle +nerveless fingers before a stranger. They stand facing squarely, +looking closely into the other's eyes, and when their hands meet, and +their fingers grip the other's, the firmness of the grip, its vigour, +its unflinching support of the return pressure somehow conveys +something of the character of one man to the other. Hank had treated +Joe in that way. To a man such as Hurley, whom he did not like, whom +he suspected to be a craven, Hank merely waved or nodded; for he had +his own views of what was proper, and they were far more exact and far +more straightforward than one would have imagined. + +"What! You, Hank--me old pal!" shouted Sam, delighted beyond measure, +and almost hugging the little hunter. "You along o' Joe? How's that? +He been doing something fer you, same as he did fer us?" + +Hank asked an abrupt question. "What?" + +"Ain't he never let on about the fire aboard ship, the rumpus there +was, and how he led the volunteers?" + +"Nary a word. Peter--Peter Strike, that is--did tell me a tale, but he +warn't too sure of it. The young cuss is that silent when it comes to +hisself. But he's been doing well. Sam, let's get these wet things +off us, and something hot inside, and then we'll gas. Gee! Ef that +ain't Mrs. Fennick! Howdy, maam? Here's Joe." + +The good woman almost embraced our hero, for she felt like a mother to +him. + +"Come right in and let us hear all about you and your doings," she +cried. "And Hank Mitchell too! I'm that glad to see you both, and Sam +has been waitin' these many days for you to arrive. He's got a scheme +for the winter." + +The grinning master of the shack accompanied the visitors into the +interior of the shack, and there stood, first on one leg and then on +the other, while Joe and Hank looked keenly about them. It was to be +expected that a man of Sam's energy, a Canadian settler who liked +things to be right, should have erected a dwelling which should be +fitting for his wife. Besides, there was reason for even greater +magnificence. + +"Guess you've been hard at work," said Hank, looking about him with +twinkling eyes that nothing escaped. "This here shack's meant to last." + +"It's that and more," cried Mrs. Fennick, pride in her tones. "Sam has +built for a purpose. This shack's too big for what we want; he planned +to have an office." + +"Eh?" asked Hank, turning on the grinning owner, who had flushed to the +roots of his hair for all the world as if he were a schoolboy. "What's +this?" + +"Part of the scheme, lad," came the answer. "Jest you two get seated +and pull off those wet moccasins; then, when you've got dry socks to +your feet and has had a bite, I'll get to at it. It's a fine yarn; +I've dreamed of it this past five years." + +No amount of persuasion would drag from Sam what his scheme was till +Joe and Hank had eaten, and the latter had lit up a pipe. + +"You kin fire in at it, Sam," said Hank at length, in the crisp little +manner which was so distinctly his own. "I kinder gathered from this +here Joe that when you came along up here prospecting it warn't with +the idea of the ordinary farm. Maam, it's plain to see as my old +friend has nigh worked his fingers to the bone." + +Once more the little hunter's eyes went round the large parlour in +which he and the others were seated, while Mrs. Fennick and her husband +followed his glances with frank pride staring from their own eyes. Nor +could Joe help but admire all that he saw; for he and Sam had been +parted but a matter of a few months, and in the course of that time the +latter had pitched upon a suitable holding for his farm, and had cut +the timber for his shack, besides erecting the house. As to the +latter, it was far bigger than the ordinary shack erected by the +settler. There was a parlour, a kitchen, and three bedrooms, while +attached at one side was a large office. + +"Where we'll have the telephone afore you kin look round," declared +Sam. "It's jest like this. Me and a mate or two agreed to go along +together into New Ontario and pitch upon a spot that was likely to open +up. Wall, we took the line the branch railway was following, though +there's not one save those in the know behind the scenes, who kin say +exactly where it'll run. Still, me and the others prospected a heap +till we came along here. What with the difficulties of rocks to the +south, and big, straggling elevations, it was clear as the rails must +follow the valley, and there warn't more'n one for 'em to take. So we +prospected along it till we came here. You jist come outside the door +and you'll see what I'm after." + +He led the way to the door of the shack and pointed to the north across +a narrow stretch of country bounded on either hand by elevated land, +and seamed along a straggling line running a little to one side of its +centre by a thin strip of blue which, here and there, was entirely +covered with snow. As for the landscape itself, it was difficult to +tell its aspect exactly, in spite of the thaw, for snow lay deeply in +most parts. + +"Wall?" asked Hank curtly, looking about him and taking in every +feature. "It's the top end of the valley, I kin see that. Rails +running north kin easily pass out, seeing that the two ridges on either +side don't run together. But they can't cut off to right or left. Ef +the rails comes along this way, why, in course they passes right +through this location." + +"Along by the river," said Sam quickly. "Hank, it's an easy rise all +the way. The river ain't got no current to speak of, which tells the +tale easily. As to the rails coming along into the valley down south, +why, that is almost certain, as sure as one can take it. Anyway, me +and my mates agreed that it was more than likely, and so we arranged to +take up holdings here. There's four of us already, Claude and Jim and +Joe makes seven, and come spring-time there's nigh twenty more married +men to join us." + +"Wall?" asked Hank, not as yet clear as to what was Sam's meaning. +"Where's the difference between this and other settlements? You takes +up land, and the rails come along. Good! Up goes the value of the +land, as it aer sartin to do. You get a reward for foresight; after +that, where's the difference?" + +Sam had evidently sought for the question, for he rubbed his hands +together eagerly and gripped Hank's sleeve. + +"Jest here," he declared with enthusiasm. "Instead of some twenty of +us starting to work our sections separately, and going mighty slow in +consequence, we're forming a corporation. Each man who takes land will +pool money with the corporation. With that money we buy implements, +horses, cattle, everything that's needed. We divide our numbers into +parties, and come the spring one of 'em sets to work to build the +shacks, another does the ploughing, while a third'll get to at the +irrigation channels." + +"Ah!" gasped Hank. "This aer new." + +"Sam worked the scheme out all alone," declared Mrs. Fennick, with +energy, causing her lord and master to blush again. + +"It sounds just splendid," cried Hank. "Wall? What more? I kin see +that there's an advantage in working ground on the corporation system. +If you've got the timber cut already, it stands to reason that ten men +working on a shack can put it up more'n ten times quicker than one man +all alone. If there's twenty shacks wanted, ten men can put 'em up +heaps faster than twenty fellers working on their own. And irrigation +too! That sounds fine; it's doing well elsewhere." + +Hank spoke but the truth there. A far-seeing Dominion Government and +an all-powerful railway company have already seamed portions of Canada +with canals and ditches with which water is borne to lands hitherto +useless. Their forethought has converted, and is fast converting, +barren soil into country which in parts already bears smiling crops and +happy homesteads. As for the corporate system, if the Dominion +Government has not attempted that--and one must admit that it is a +question more for individual settlers--it has at least other worthy +schemes. A would-be settler can now sail for the Dominion, to find +there a quarter section prepared for his coming, with the shack built, +the well dug, and some forty acres broken and seeded. For this he pays +a reasonably small sum down, and the rest by small instalments. Think +of the huge advantage of such a system. In place of finding naked +soil, and having first to build a shelter and then break the land, a +settler finds a home in readiness and crops already sprouting. Then +consider Sam Fennick's proposition. + +"It aer bound to go with a bang," declared Hank, pushing his skin cap +to the back of his head and scratching his forehead. "It aer jest +tremendous." + +"It'll work, I think," agreed Sam, with the natural modesty of the +inventor of such a daring scheme. "Anyway, we've got the party +together, and there'll be money in abundance. Each man will own his +own taking, and ef others come along and settle nigh us, why, we're +prepared to hire ourselves out ef there's a call and we've the time. +As for implements, me and a few of them has talked it over, and come +the spring there'll be two steam agricultural motors up here, in which +we kin burn wood. They'll each do ploughing at three to four acres a +day, and will draw the reapers and binders when it comes to harvesting. +There won't be no need to wait for a threshing gang, 'cos the tractors +will drive the machine we shall buy. They kin do wood sawing too, and +a hundred other things, besides hauling the stuff to market." + +"Ah!" gasped Hank, for this was a proposition which rather took his +breath away by its novelty and its possibilities. "But----" + +"Yes?" asked Sam, bracing himself, as if to face any awkward questions +the little hunter might fire off at him. + +"There's the winter," said Hank. "Your corporation comes to an end +when the snow comes; you ain't thought of that." + +But Sam had; he wagged a knowing finger, while Mrs. Fennick giggled. +Indeed, it must be admitted that this cockney settler, who had come +from London and done so well in the Dominion, had proved himself more +than astute. Perhaps he had thought the whole matter out during some +past winter in Canada. In any case, he had been wonderfully close +where his scheme was concerned, for never once had he more than hinted +at it to Joe. However, the question of work in the winter had not +escaped him. + +"You listen here," he said, shaking Hank as if he were a dog. "Come +wintertime east of the rockies things mostly closes down in Canada; +even in the towns there ain't too much work. There's men wandering to +and fro searching for jobs, whereas, most times and in most places, +when there's spring and summer, there's more jobs than men." + +"Guess that aer so," agreed Hank, sucking hard at his pipe. + +"But there's work in Canada that starts in the fall, and only then--eh?" + +"Lumberin'," suggested Hank. + +"Lumbering it aer," cried Sam, drawling the words. "Up there beyond +the break through which the railway'll pass, ef we've any luck, there's +land that's heavily timbered. Wall, it's part of the scheme. You kin +get a timber concession from Government by paying so much on the logs +you cut, and me and my mates has taken up a tidy piece of timber +country. There's a lake twenty miles and more north into which we can +slide the logs, and there's another jest at the head of the valley. +Way south there's a quickish fall, with water in plenty, and ef all +goes well, and we kin make enough dollars, why, we'll start a mill +there and saw our timber. The rails'll be close by then, and will take +'em on to market." + +"My," cried Hank, "you've been moving!" + +"We're only beginning," said Sam. "But we starts out for a lumber camp +soon as the frost comes, and there we'll work till springtime. You +axed what we was going to do in the winter. There's the answer." + +It must be confessed that Sam Fennick's scheme was ambitious to the +last degree. But then, if one analyses it, one can see the +possibilities that Hank saw, for co-operative working is often enough +wonderfully successful where the single individual fails. Again, in a +country where labour is scarce, and profits often lessened because of +the lack of labour at critical periods; where, in fact, a man who may +have broken and sown his land with the greatest industry may see his +crops rot in spite of his energy, simply and solely because of the lack +of help to harvest them; there, in a case such as that, the +co-operation of his fellows would be all in all to him. Indeed, with +pooled labour, and a certain sum pooled by all the settlers with which +to buy implements, it stands to reason that work could be done more +cheaply, more expeditiously, and always at the proper season. + +"It aer a grand proposition," declared Hank, when he had thoroughly +considered the matter. "I kin see a big saving in more than one way, +and one of 'em's this. Suppose there's twenty settlers in the combine. +Wall, now, with ten ploughs and ten harrows and seeders you've tools to +break the land. Supposing there warn't a combine; each man has his own +tools. They ain't all in use together, so some of 'em's lying idle. +That's gain number one, and don't you try to contradict me. And so +you're goin' lumberin'?" + +"We are that," assented Sam; "and seems to me you and Joe had better +come along with us. You could put in a month or more, and then go +along on prospecting." + +It took our hero and his hunter companion but a little while to accept +the invitation, the more so as Joe was already more or less one of the +corporation Sam was forming. + +"There's dollars in the scheme right through," Hank said, as they sat +round the stove that evening. "Ef you'll have me as one of the band, +I'll apply for my two hundred acres right off, paying for 'em, for I +ain't able to take up more free land. Joe's in the same fix. But he +aer got the dollars to pay. We'll come north with you and do a little +lumbering. Afterwards he and I kin move on farther, for I've a +proposition of my own to look into." + +"But----" began Joe, who had been a listener for the most part up till +now. + +"Huh! He's agoin' to criticize the scheme and pour cold water on it," +grinned Hank, swinging round on our hero. "Tell you, Sam, this here +youngster aer had his eyes opened wide sense he came out, and he's +turnin' into a business farmer. Wall, what are it?" + +"This lumbering," began Joe diffidently, colouring at so much attention +being attracted to him. + +"Just you give 'em what you think and don't be afraid," cried Mrs. +Fennick encouragingly. "The lad that could organize volunteers aboard +ship has a right to speak. Sam, likely as not he'll show you and Hank +that you've made a big error somewheres. Now, Joe." + +"I was merely asking about the lumbering," said Joe. "I always +gathered that lumberers were men who were more or less trained. They +go out in gangs, don't they?" + +"And so'll we," interrupted Sam, with eagerness. "But there ain't so +many chaps out here that hasn't had a turn with the gangs some time. +I've done a season; p'raps Hank has too." + +"You bet," came from that individual. "I've done most things 'way out +here, from gold diggin' to farming pure and simple. Huntin' aer my +proper trade, but I ain't too proud to do anything. Even when I'm my +own master I ain't above takin' on a job for someone else ef I've the +time, and the money's good enough." + +"Then there's two of us has done the work before," declared Sam. +"Eight or nine of the boys I've fixed it with to join our corporation +are already up in the woods, where we'll join 'em. They've a shack +built this three months, and no doubt they've started in felling." + +It appeared, indeed, as if the thoughtful Sam had made very complete +arrangements, and there was little doubt but that Hank, as an old and +experienced colonial, was delighted. + +"It aer a fine proposition," he repeated for perhaps the twentieth +time. "When other folks is buried in the snow, and only finding work +with feeding the cattle and sichlike, we'll be cutting timber that'll +bring dollars in the summer, and be back on our holdings time enough to +plough and sow and make ready for harvest. Autumn will see us +threshing, and by the time the grain is hauled down to the railway +there'll be frosts. Then out we go again. Gee, Sam, this fair tickles +me!" + +A week later the little band of lumbermen was collected together, while +Tom Egan, a sturdy settler some fifty years of age, had arrived from +his own little shack across the valley and had taken up his residence +at Sam's dwelling, where it was arranged that Mrs. Fennick should stay +with Egan's wife and children. + +"Yer see," explained Sam, "a lumber camp ain't no sorter place for a +woman. It's rough living all the while. Men are packed together as +close as sardines, and even then it's mighty cold. So the missus stays +here with the Egans while we move on." + +They slung their traps over their shoulders, and with snowshoes on +their feet set out towards the north. The thaw of the past week had by +now given way to severe frosts, while there had been a heavy fall of +snow. However, none but a confirmed grumbler could have found fault +with the conditions, for a bright sun flooded the landscape, shimmering +on hillocks of snow, throwing long blue shadows athwart the hollows, +and causing the millions of particles of ice to flash and scintillate. +There was a dry, exhilarating crispness about the atmosphere that was +typically Canadian, a bracing coldness that made the little band step +out briskly, Hank at their head, Sam following; then Joe, and Jim and +Claude, the two young friends he had made aboard the steamer, marching +side by side. Dick Parsons, a lanky, bearded colonial, brought up the +rear, a veritable grenadier in proportions. + +They formed a merry party in their lean-to that night, and went on +their journey on the following morning with undiminished vigour. Late +the following day the crisp ring of axes coming to their ears through +the tree trunks of the forest they had plunged into some hours before +told them that the lumber camp was within easy distance. Shouts +greeted them as they trailed into a narrow clearing, at the back of +which stood a low-built shack half-buried in snow, and with its roof +supporting a vast mass of that material. Smoke issued gently from a +centrally-placed chimney, while the door was wide open. Hearty indeed +was the greeting, then the hut swallowed the whole party. + +"You've jest come along in time for tea," cried one of the lumbermen, a +bearded giant even taller than Parsons. "Sit ye down right there and +we'll give you a meal that'll show you how we've been living. Bill, +you fish out that bear's meat you've a-stewing, while we others get the +tea on the table." + +The table, let us explain, was a mere apology for that article as +civilized individuals understand the term, for your lumberman has no +time to devote to the niceties of furniture construction. Joe indeed +found himself marvelling at the crudeness of their work and yet at its +obvious utility; for split stakes had been driven into the ground down +the centre of the shack, and cross pieces nailed on top. More long +split logs secured to these formed the top of a table some two feet +wide. As for benches, they were fashioned in the same manner along +either side, and were by now fully occupied. A huge enamelled-ware +teapot was passing from hand to hand, while Bill, the cook to this +expedition, was standing at one end of the table dealing out helpings +of a savoury bear-meat stew that tickled the nostrils of everyone. + +"What about sleeping?" asked Joe presently, when the meal was finished +and the lumber gang had gathered round the open fire placed at one end +of the table. "Is there another room?" + +"Another!" exclaimed Harvey Bent, the chief of the party. "Young man, +there ain't time fer buildin' luxuries when you're lumberin', and +what's more, guess there ain't warmth enough. Time we turns in +to-night there'll be jest about room fer the lot of us, and no more. +The closer we are the warmer, and 'way out here, when the thermometer's +down below zero, that means something to men who has to work." + +Joe and his friends found that the sleeping accommodation was quaint in +the extreme. Along one side of the shack a sloping platform had been +built of the usual split logs, and piles of blankets lay upon it. +Going to bed was a simple proceeding in this lumber camp; for men +merely slipped off their boots and hats and wrapped themselves in a +blanket. Then they lay down side by side, packed closely together, so +closely, in fact, that to turn was an impossibility. But Joe and his +young friends, who were novices like himself, discovered very soon that +these old lumbermen were not without consideration. They allowed for +the possibility of a change of position, and that very night, some time +in the small hours, a hoarse command awakened them. + +"Heave!" they heard, and promptly, more asleep than awake, the band of +men rolled over on to the other side and once more settled into snores +and slumber. + +"It's a sight that'll do your eyes good," declared Hank, early on the +following morning, when the gang had eaten. "You watch these fellers +cutting down their timber. It ain't likely that you'll be wanted fer +much to-day, and so we'll take a look at 'em and then see their mates. +All of the gang ain't fellers. It stands to reason that someone's got +to deal with the timber when it's down, and has to haul it out of the +way to where the water kin deal with it. We're high up here, for we +was climbing most of yesterday, and this here shack aer located jest at +the top of a steep slope cutting sheer down to the lake that Sam +mentioned. You come along with me; when we've had a look round we kin +tackle a job with the others." + +Donning their snowshoes and taking their rifles with them--for it was +already agreed that Hank should hunt for the gang and procure them +fresh meat--he and Joe went sliding off along the hillside, and +presently, reaching a spot where the lumberman's axe had cleared the +trees, were able to get a clear view of their surroundings. Down below +them, two or more hundred feet perhaps, was a vast expanse of white, +unbroken for the most part, though here and there there was a +dark-coloured elevation denoting an island, the huge expanse being the +frozen and snow-covered surface of the lake. Beyond there was forest, +patched with snow, silent and forbidding. As for the steep slope at +that part, it was scored with a hundred and more tracks. + +"Where the logs slide down to the lake," said Hank. "Now we'll go +along and see 'em at it. My, these trees are mighty big, and will saw +into fine logs! Ef that railway comes up this way, as Sam believes, +timber'll be wanted, and the work that's being done here will bring its +own reward. Ah! there's axes! Jest you come and see how a Canadian +lumberman tackles a forest giant, and can throw the tree jest wherever +he wants." + +Joe marvelled, indeed, at the skill and the energy of the lumbermen. +Hearty, healthy fellows one and all, they went at their work as if they +loved it. Cutting niches with their axes high up the stem of a giant, +they drove wooden stakes into the crevices thus prepared, and soon had +a platform built on this somewhat insecure foundation. Then came the +ring of axes swiftly falling, a hoarse cry of warning, twice repeated, +followed by a reverberating roar as the giant succumbed to human +forces, crashing to the ground with a thud which shook the +surroundings. Joe stood by as one of the biggest of the trees tumbled, +and watched the lumbermen shredding the branches from the fallen +timber. The naked trunk was then levered with crowbars, and with a +final jerk was sent skidding and sliding down the hillside, to come to +a halt at the bottom, perhaps on the frozen surface of the lake, or at +any rate within a few feet of it. + +"There's a couple of men working down there with a hoss," explained +Hank. "They hitches on to the logs that don't reach the lake and drag +'em into position. Look away down. There's a hull crowd of timber +waitin' for the end of winter." + +"And then?" asked Joe, for he was ignorant for the most part of the +work of lumbermen. + +"Why, the ice breaks up," said Hank, "the logs gets carried into the +lake, and the 'drivers' takes 'em in hand. A mighty hard and dangerous +job theirs is, too. They has to be at it night and day, wet and fine. +Each of 'em has a long pole with a spike at the end, and their +particular work aer to send the logs down. Sometimes the stream +carries 'em all right. Sometimes they gets hung up in corners and +eddies, and the driver has to set 'em afloat agin. Then, down at the +bottom of a lake same as this it ain't so seldom that logs and ice'll +form a jam. One of the logs gets across the outlet, stuck up on a rock +or two. Others piles up behind, with blocks of ice maybe, till there's +ten foot high of logs and stuff, with a mass of water and ice and logs +'way behind. That aer a ticklish job to tackle, and many a driver has +been killed or drowned. But they ain't never afraid, and there ain't +much that they can't do. I've seed 'em hopping from floating log to +log and steering a single trunk downstream, as ef they was aboard a +canoe and not on top of a thing that'd roll over with the ordinary +feller. Now, we'll make right off out of hearing of the camp. Bill +war telling me this morning that when that bear's meat aer done, there +ain't nothing left but pork." + +It was with the keenness of a schoolboy that Joe threw himself into the +work at the lumber camp. That very evening he was told off with the +hauling gang, and for a month and more assisted in dragging the felled +timber to the edge of the lake; and never once did he find the hours +drag or the work too heavy. As for the evenings, they were a delight +to all; for your lumberman's camp is a veritable club. There, with the +door shut and a hot fire burning, the men made a circle once their meal +was finished. Pipes were filled, and clouds of smoke obscured the +surroundings, dimming the rays from the single oil lantern hanging +overhead. And what yarns those colonials could tell! Rugged, honest +fellows, they spoke in a simple manly manner which was captivating. +The boaster was not to be found amongst them; their tales were of deeds +which had actually occurred, while the truth of their statements was +apparent. As for chaff, they were never done with it. Harmless jokes +and horse-play made the evenings jovial and merry. It was thus that +our hero passed a portion of his first Canadian winter, revelling in +the brisk atmosphere and in his work, boon companion to every member of +the lumber gang. Then he and Hank bade farewell to their comrades and, +shouldering their packs, set out for the north, for a country hardly +ever explored, where danger and difficulty awaited them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Moose Hunting + +"I'm agoin ter tell you now what's brought me away up here through the +backwoods of New Ontario," said Hank, the very evening he and Joe had +left the lumber camp and their friends, amongst whom Sam Fennick was +numbered. "I'm looking fer Beaver Jack." + +"Beaver Jack! Who's he?" demanded our hero doubtfully. + +"That's what I'm jest about to tell. Beaver Jack aer the cutest, +quietest, cussedest Indian that ever you set eyes on, or that ever +anyone else set eyes on either. He kin talk our language fairly well, +and he war for three years or more along with me and my father. That's +a time ago. Of late he's mooned about in the settlements during +summer, not doing more'n a hand's turn, as is the nature of the +Redskin. And winter's found him 'way up north, trappin' and huntin' +fer the pelts that keeps him in food during the summer months. Beaver +Jack and me's old friends, and with him to lead there's a chance of our +striking a country I've heard of from mates of his. There ain't been +much prospecting up in New Ontario, lad, but I've heard there's gold, +and gold mines are worth finding." + +So that was the secret of this expedition. Hank, a naturally silent +man, had said little about his intentions up to date, and Joe had but a +vague idea as to his real object. For himself, it had been sufficient +that he was to travel through the Canadian wastes with such a pleasant +fellow, and experience a life the very mention of which was most +fascinating. It can be imagined, therefore, that he looked forward to +the meeting with Beaver Jack with some anticipation, and hailed that +taciturn Redskin heartily when, two weeks later, they came across him. + +"You'd say as it aer fair wonderful that we should meet him right up +here in the wilderness," smiled Hank, as he and Joe prepared for the +night's bivouac. "But Jack aer a long-legged man, and, Injun-like, he +turns his toes in. You could tell his mark in the snow amongst a +thousand, and it ain't much altered even with snowshoes. See +there--there's my marks, there's yourn, here's Beaver Jack's." + +"With a longer distance between each one," agreed Joe. "And the back +of each shoe seems to have been trailed along the snow as he went. +There's a clean line every time. With you there's much the same, but +the distance between the shoe marks is less, while mine are broken and +the snow is irregularly marked in between." + +"So as you could swear to any one of the three any day," said Hank. +"Now, guess how it war that I steered a course so as to cross his +tracks." + +The question was one of greater difficulty, and Joe found himself +unable to answer. However, the explanation was simple enough when it +came to be given. + +"It aer like this," smiled Hank. "Beaver Jack don't never come far +into the settlements, and his line ain't never due north. Reckon he +ain't fond of coming across other Injuns that way, nor the half-breeds +that live up towards James Bay. So his line's always to the west. +Ours being north, and cutting up through the country Beaver Jack +crosses, why, in course we was bound to drop across his tracks. Had +sport this season, Jack?" + +The Indian turned slowly upon his questioner and straightened himself, +for he had been bending over the narrow sledge upon which he was wont +to haul his pelts when their number became too burdensome for carrying. +The failing light of a midwinter day fell upon a scarred and seamed +face that might have belonged to a man of sixty, of seventy, or even of +eighty. The brows were drawn down over the eyes, the hooked nose +approached closely to the thin, closely-shut lips, while even the chin, +square and determined, and yet narrower than is customary with white +men, appeared to turn up towards the centre of the face. But the eyes +were the feature that attracted one. Small, and set wide apart, they +flashed round at Hank and then at Joe. At one moment they looked +severe, fierce, almost cruel; the next moment one could have sworn that +they were twinkling. As for the remainder of this native trapper, he +was clad in skin clothing of his own making. Fringed leggings covered +his lanky lower limbs, while a shirt of leather, soft and wonderfully +pliable and stained with much exposure, was over his shoulders, wide +open at the neck, the sleeves reaching only down to his elbows. The +man pointed slowly to his pile of pelts, and then, as if to speak would +be to waste words, bent down over his sledge again and went on with the +work that engaged his attention. + +"He aer a rare 'un to talk," laughed Hank. "You get almost tired of +hearin' his voice. But he kin hunt, and he aer the best man as ever I +came across for calling up the moose. Know what that means, Joe?" + +"Haven't an idea," answered our hero; for even now he was ignorant of +the ways of hunters. + +"Then we'll teach you, me and Jack," said Hank. "Jack, have you seen +moose tracks hereabouts? If there's some of the beasts within twenty +mile, you ain't likely to have missed them." + +The mention of something to do with hunting brought the Indian to an +erect position again with remarkable swiftness. He lifted an arm and +pointed away to the west, to where the snow-clad landscape reared +itself abruptly till, rising to a great height, it cut across the +darkening sky in a succession of jagged peaks, upon which the rays of +the fallen sun flickered, though the orb itself had long since +disappeared from sight. + +"Moose yard up there," he said abruptly; "plenty beast." + +"Then to-morrow we'll see what we kin do with 'em," cried Hank. "We +kin leave our traps 'way down here in this camp, and jest take our +rifles with us. We ain't likely to be back before the night comes, and +ef we're still out on the hills, why, in course we'll make a camp +that'll keep us warm and right till the dawn comes. Now, lad, on with +that kettle; it aer time almost for supper." + +Joe's experience of moose hunting had not been so great up to this +moment that he was not keen on a hunt. Once only, in fact, had he +encountered this huge, fierce beast of the Canadian forests, and then +the moose bull may be said to have hunted him. It was, therefore, with +a certain amount of elation and excitement that he set off with his +comrades on the following morning. Leaving their pelts behind in the +lean-to--for Joe and Hank had trapped and shot many beasts during the +last two weeks--and taking only rifles and ammunition and ready-cooked +food with them--the three turned their faces towards the west, where +the land reared itself up suddenly into a long chain of hills which +might almost be described as mountains. Trudging along in front went +Beaver Jack, as silent as ever, his face always to the front, never +turning his head by so much as an inch, and yet seeing and remembering +every feature of his surroundings. Joe noted the long swing of his +lanky legs, the sliding stride with which he carried his snowshoes from +one part to another, and the manner in which he kicked his shoes from +time to time. Then came Hank, keen and energetic, his rifle across his +shoulder, his shoes sinking hardly at all into the snow. However, Joe +found walking on this occasion somewhat difficult, for the pace the +Indian set was terrific, while a mild-tempered wind had softened the +snow which clung to his shoes, making them ponderously heavy. + +"Steady!" called Hank, after a while, arresting the rapid progress of +the Indian. "This here pal of mine are puffin' and blowin'. Yer see, +Joe, you ain't so used to snowshoein' as Jack and me, and when there's +a thaw it aer heavy work. But jest you watch Beaver Jack. He gives a +sorter kick every few steps, and so rids himself of the weight that you +have to carry. We'll rest here a few minutes, and then you kin go in +front and so set the pace." + +An hour later they began to ascend a little, while within less than two +hours the path they were making took them upward at a somewhat abrupt +angle, which made the work extremely heavy. It was a relief to Joe, +therefore, when Hank called another halt, and when Beaver Jack pointed +away along the side of the mountain. + +"We ain't likely to find moose much higher," said Hank, seating himself +beside Joe; "not because it aer too cold for 'em high up, but because +the stuff they feed on don't grow up there. Seems to me that we've a +biggish wood in front of us, and we've got to make right through it +before we shall come across their tracks. Even then there mayn't be +any of the beasts, for ef they happen to have caught sight of us, or +winded us, which aer far more likely, why, the hull crowd will have +gone right off. You could shoot a charging moose, lad?" + +"I'd try, anyway," answered Joe, mindful of his previous effort. "I +think that by now I ought to be able to hold a gun straight, and if +only I don't get too excited I ought to be able to hit a beast. I'm +ready to move on if you are." + +Once more they began their trudge across the sloping snowfield, Hank +now leading, and presently he plunged into a forest clinging to the +hillside. A wide space beyond was devoid of animal life, though Beaver +Jack declared that moose had recently been across it. Then they dived +into a narrow belt of trees, where the Indian came to a sudden halt. + +"Try here," he said. "Not sure, but think beasts near; and if we go +on, sure to hear us. Wait little--soon ready." + +"Watch him," whispered Hank; "you'll see him set to work as only an +Indian can. He's looking about for a birch tree, and with that knife +of his will strip the bark in a matter of a few minutes. I kin tell +you this, give a Redskin a knife and firelock and powder, and he kin go +anywhere and make most anything in these forests. Birch bark aer the +stuff he puts to roof his lean-to. A long strip cut from an extry big +tree, and shaped and sewn, makes him a canoe that's better than any +other craft known on any water; while, ef it's pots and kettles that's +wanted fer cookin', he can fix the business easy with his knife, and so +long as there's a tree of the right sort about. See him cut that roll +free. Now, in a jiffy he'll have a trumpet." + +Beaver Jack went about his work in a manner which showed that he was +accustomed to it, and came back towards his comrades bearing a long +strip of bark which he was slowly coaxing into the shape of a funnel. +Then with his knife and a few strips of hide cut from the fringes of +his leggings he tied the edges of the bark, so that the implement he +had fashioned retained its shape. A little later he bent his lanky +form, applied the smaller end of the funnel to his mouth, and blew +heavily into it. The lines across forehead and face became even +deeper. To look at the Indian one would have declared that he was in +agony, and no doubt he was making a special effort. The result was +truly wonderful. Joe had heard moose calling before, the sounds they +made echoing through the forest. And here the calls were repeated, +more loudly, it is true, since they were meant to pass to a distance, +but wonderfully realistic and lifelike. + +"Now listen," said Hank, in a whisper. "Ef there's a moose bull within +two mile of this he'll answer." + +The long, deep-toned call produced by Beaver Jack with the aid of his +birch-bark trumpet was answered by a deadly silence that nothing broke, +and though the call was repeated, it appeared as if the result was to +be similar. But suddenly the Indian stirred, while Joe saw Hank's eyes +concentrate themselves upon the forest. Then, far off, there came a +dismal echo of the sound, as if the hillside were casting it back at +the hunters. At once, without so much as a word, the Redskin slunk off +into the forest, Hank and Joe following closely. + +"You kin look for a burst of speed," whispered Hank hurriedly, turning +his head. "There's a moose bull 'way ahead, and Beaver Jack aer going +nearer so as to coax him. Jest make sure as you don't knock that rifle +against the trees, or else there won't be much huntin'." + +Silent after that, with hardly a glance to left or to right, the three +pushed on through the wood, Beaver Jack choosing, as if by instinct, a +path that avoided thick underwood, and allowed himself and his comrades +to retain their snowshoes. Slowly the trees diminished in number, till +they straggled out into the open in broken groups of two and three, and +finally singly, scattered here and there over a wide field of snow that +seemed to be unbroken and unmarked by beasts of any description. To +the left the hills reared their heads abruptly, snow-covered to the +summits, grey and forbidding, as if they resented the coming of these +strangers. Ah! The Redskin had lifted a hand; he came to a halt. + +"He aer going to call agin," whispered Hank, who seemed to be tingling +with excitement. "Ain't that 'ere Beaver Jack clever?" + +None but an expert could, in fact, have produced the impression this +seamed and lined Indian contrived at. That long, deep-toned call, +rising and falling in cadence and halting abruptly, as if only +half-completed, went booming across the snowy waste, and echoed amongst +the pinnacles above. It was followed by a second call, the tone of +which was distinctly angry, as if the beast summoning its own kind were +vexed at the want of an answer. Then, as the same faint response came +to their ears--but this time distinctly nearer--a plaintive note crept +into the summons which Beaver Jack produced with the aid of his +trumpet, till one would have said that even the most heartless of +listeners would have dashed forward promptly. But your moose is +perhaps one of the wariest of beasts. Gifted with acute hearing and +still more pronounced sense of smell, he is almost always suspicious. +The least doubt as to the genuineness of a call, the faintest suspicion +of the presence of others, will keep him sulking in the background, +hidden by the trees, or will send him dashing off madly, his huge +antlers steered with wonderful skill between the branches, so that not +so much as a sound might help a would-be pursuer. It seemed as if the +one in the far distance were of this character, as if he were +suspicious. It made no difference to his movements even when Beaver +Jack, working himself almost into a frenzy with his efforts, produced +more mournful sounds, and then struck the tree trunk beside him +heavily. Still the answering response was weak-toned and far off. + +"He ain't coming, that's truth," whispered Hank. "We shall have to get +along towards him, and this time we shall have to creep over every +yard. Ef the brute does come, you shoot, Joe. I've had many a chance; +so's Jack. Take him jest below the point of the shoulder." + +Joe gripped his rifle with both hands, and saw that the safety catch +was in position; then he fixed his eyes on his two companions. Nor was +it long before there was a movement. Beaver Jack bent double and, +thrusting the muzzle of his weird birch trumpet into the snow, sent +forth a challenge which seemed to skim curiously over the hillside and +burst into bigger volume in the distance. Then he dropped on to hands +and knees, having already kicked off his snowshoes and slung them over +his shoulders. A second later he was creeping away amidst the +scattered trees, casting more than one glance over his shoulder. + +"This aer a fair conundrum," whispered Hank to Joe, when the little +party again came to a standstill. "I've hunted moose many a time, and, +as a rule, ef there ain't no wind, as is the case jest now, and a +hunter aer cautious, there ain't no great difficulty in coming up with +them. Of course it isn't every Indian who can call, let alone a white +man. A Redskin is kinder born to it, and most of 'em can call same as +ef they was real moose. Guess Beaver Jack aer one of 'em. But look +what's happenin' to-day. There's no getting nearer the beast that's +answered. He's heard our call and has challenged back, but he goes off +a bit every time we move forward." + +"Perhaps there's something else disturbing him," ventured Joe, somewhat +baffled for an answer, cautiously raising his lips to Hank's ear. "I +notice that Beaver Jack has looked over his shoulder once or twice as +if he thought there might be something behind us. Perhaps he's heard a +call from that direction." + +"Nary a one. Ef there had been I'd have heard it," asserted Hank, with +decision; "but there may be beasts following. Ef it warn't fer the +snow you could hear 'em by listening closely with an ear to the ground +or placed hard up agin the trunk of one of the trees. But snow muffles +most sounds, especially footsteps. Ah! That 'ere beast called from a +point a little closer." + +Whatever the cause of their want of success, Beaver Jack and Hank were +not the men to give up the chase without a further effort, and without +some show of that wonderful patience for which hunters are notorious. +Time and again the Redskin repeated his call, and on a dozen occasions +the trio went forward, crawling over the snow on their stomachs. At +length, when Joe's small stock of patience was almost exhausted, the +answering call came from a point distinctly nearer. + +"That 'ere bull aer fair bothered," observed Hank, as Beaver Jack again +buried the muzzle of his trumpet. "He aer been retreating all this +while, and now it seems to me as ef he'd made up his mind that things +was square, and had come towards us at a gallop. Ef he charges, don't +wait too long. Give him a shot, and then ram in a cartridge." + +It was perhaps some ten minutes later that the undergrowth clambering +about the stems of a thick clump of evergreen pines three hundred yards +from the hunters was suddenly rent asunder, and there emerged into the +open two gigantic animals, the moose bull ahead and his consort behind +him. As for the former, Joe could even at that distance see that his +short mane was bristling, while his head was thrown upward, his antlers +being carried high in the air, while one fore leg was poised, as if he +were in the very act of galloping forward. + +"Hah!" Joe heard Hank grunt. "That aer the meaning of the mystery. +That 'ere bull has gone on retreating till he felt as ef he were bound +to go no farther, as ef, in fact, he'd be a coward ef he didn't turn +and face the danger. You kin look out for trouble." + +Click! went the safety catch of Joe's rifle. He swung it into position +and, taking careful aim, pulled the trigger. Almost at once there came +a snorting grunt from the moose bull. The beast threw his fore legs +into the air and stood there poised for the instant. A second later he +had launched himself against the little group of hunters, and came +charging towards them at a speed which was terrific. + +"Agin!" cried Hank, his eyes gleaming, while his fingers closed round +his own weapon. Up went our hero's gun again, and once more his eye +ranged along the sights. But he never pulled the trigger, for, of a +sudden, there came a loud report from behind him, while something +struck the snow three yards in rear and ricochetting from the surface +went humming and screaming over his head. Then came a second shot, +falling almost on the self-same spot, while the powdered snow driven +upward by the bullet swept against his face in a thick cloud which +almost blinded him. Sweeping the crystals away with one hand, he +stared across the open, while Hank's sharp tones roused him from the +form of stupor into which he had fallen. + +"Git loaded," he commanded shortly, "and soon as you've given 'em a +shot, run back where that 'ere moose has bolted. Reckon there's a pack +of half-breeds after us." + +The sharp snap of his weapon was heard instantly, and was followed by a +shot from Beaver Jack's rifle. Then Joe, wrestling with the excitement +into which this sudden interference had thrown him, levelled his own +weapon at the foremost of two dog sleighs dashing across the open +towards them, and steadily pulled the trigger. + +"On snowshoes," cried Hank sharply. "Now, Beaver Jack, you kin take +post behind us. You're the best when it comes to huntin', but when +there's a ruction same as this is, guess Hank ain't in need of no +coaching. Joe, you come second. Ef they gets much closer, you've to +keep a tree between you and them most of the time, and ef they looks +like heading us, why, in course we shall have to look lively to find a +suitable place to hold, and must get to and fight 'em." + +He turned without further warning, and with his rifle trailed in one +hand dashed across the snow towards the thick clump of evergreens from +which the bull moose had so lately put in an appearance. As for the +beast and his consort, both had turned at the sound of that far-off +shot and had dashed away at a pace which took them out of sight within +a minute. It was but a few seconds later when the same evergreens +closed about the figures of our hero and his comrades. + +"We've got to search for thick forest all the while," called Hank +softly over his shoulder. "Then those dog sleighs won't be able to +make much pace, and so won't easily come up to us. Gee, this aer a do! +I reckoned all the while as there was something queer happenin', +something that that bull moose kinder scented and yet warn't sure of. +This aer a fair business." + +The sudden change in the fortunes of the little party was indeed +extraordinary and inexplicable. Had either of the three been asked the +question that morning, they would have declared that to the best of +their belief there was not another living human being within a radius +of perhaps a hundred miles. Yet see what had happened. Ever since an +early hour that morning two sleighs, drawn by dogs, had been following +their tracks up to the hills and along the elevated ground they had +taken. Figures wrapped in skin garments much the same as Beaver Jack +wore had trudged beside the sleighs, whirling their whips now and again +above the heads of the teams they were driving. Then, coming to that +open space across which the chase had taken our hero and his friends, +these strangers had leaped on to their sleighs and had come across the +frozen surface at a rattling pace that brought them within long rifle +shot of the hunters as Joe was in the very act of achieving a triumph. +When the latter turned, having narrowly escaped two bullets, it was to +perceive the two sleighs being driven rapidly forward, one some ten +feet in advance of the other. Instantly his eyes were attracted to the +former; for in front sat a huddled figure, above whose head a +long-lashed whip swirled and cracked, while behind there stood a burly +man balancing himself wonderfully, and with rifle at his shoulder. + +Who could he be? What was the cause of this sudden and unprovoked +attack? From whence had come these men who had sprung upon the scene +so unexpectedly? No wonder that Hank was troubled. Beaver Jack's +seamed and heavily-lined face displayed not the smallest surprise or +vexation; but Joe's features were a study. There was anger on his +face; his lips were firmly pressed together. His bull-dog chin was, if +anything, a little squarer than usual. + +"Gee!" he cried. "Well, I'm jiggered." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Pursued by Unknown Enemies + +For the better part of an hour Hank led his two comrades across the +snow-clad side of the hill, guiding them between the trees of the patch +of forest land which they had now entered, and keeping always to the +west. Then, without show of hesitation, he plunged into a wide-open +strip across which could be traced, even at a distance, the tracks left +by the two moose they had so recently accosted. Nor did he slacken his +pace till a second belt of forest land appeared, and the trio had once +more dived into cover. + +"You kin sit down and rest awhile and get yer breath," he said shortly. +"Me and Beaver Jack'll watch to see what's happenin' to them varmint. +Gee! I'd give a pile of dollars to know who they are and for why +they've taken it into their ugly heads to follow and attack us. You +ain't got no notion, Jack?" + +The Indian, who had already thrown himself down beneath an evergreen +with his face turned in the direction in which they had been coming, +merely grunted. It seemed almost as if he considered an answer +superfluous. Then, as Hank repeated his question somewhat +peremptorily, the Redskin swung over on to his right side and looked +back at the hunter. + +"Not sure," he said. "Bad men, anyway; half-breeds, p'raps. But want +to kill us; maybe they think there is money." + +"Then they're jest makin' an almighty error," grinned Hank, who seemed +to be amused at the idea, and who, in any case, desperate though the +position might be, seemed in no way put out or bereft of his usual +cheeriness and assurance. "They're jest making a tarnation error ef +money's what they're after, for Joe and I ain't got much more than the +price of a tin of 'bacca between us. We've sunk it in land, Jack, land +as thieves like them can't grab. But half-breeds they are, I'd guess; +though why they should follow us beats me hollow. P'raps they're +discharged servants of the Hudson Bay Company, and, happenin' to fall +across our tracks, thought to knock us over the heads and clear all +that we've got. There's two sides to that sort of business. I ain't +never allowed people to give me knocks without rousin' trouble, and +guess them 'ere varmint is in fer a little now. Joe, ha' you got any +sort o' notion who they could be?" + +Was it likely that our hero could have even an idea? After all, his +experience of Canada was decidedly limited. It is true that the months +he had spent with Peter Strike had taught him a great deal, while his +stay in the lumber camp, and the unending yarns of the men when +gathered of an evening round the fire, had furnished him with many a +little incident telling of the life of the settlers and also of old +colonists. Indeed, there were men there who had passed to the north as +far as Hudson Bay, and who, when pressed, had spoken of the long, dark +winters, of the sparse population, of the half-breeds to be found at +and about the forts erected by the all-dominating Hudson Bay Company. +But search his memory as he might, there was nothing in those yarns to +give him an inkling as to who these marauders could be; in fact, he had +gathered that life was peculiarly secure even in the out-of-the-way +parts of the Dominion. Why, therefore, should he and his two comrades +have been so suddenly and unexpectedly attacked? + +"Beats me, Hank," he exclaimed, shaking his head. "I got wondering +once whether it could be Hurley, who somehow got to learn that you and +I were off for a prospecting tour. But is it likely?" + +The little hunter stuffed the bowl of his thin pipe with one firm +finger tip, while he stared away across the open along the tracks which +he and his comrades had made. It was clear that his eyes were hardly +observing his surroundings. He was thinking deeply, and his coon-skin +cap, though it was pulled low down on to his forehead, failed to hide +the deep wrinkles which had suddenly appeared, and which even ran down +over his brows to the corners of the eyes. He struck a match--for that +was one of the luxuries of civilization which he clung to in the +backwoods, though Beaver Jack was above such trivial help--and slowly +lit the weed. + +"I never thought o' that," he said at last; "but it ain't likely. +You've got to bear in mind that Hurley ha got a rope round his neck +every day of the week and every hour of his life. He aer likely to be +informed against every time he sets his ugly nose near the settlements; +and sense you may say as he's always in danger of being taken, it +stands to reason that he ain't going to risk his neck jest for the sake +of gettin' quits with two of the chaps who helped to chase him. No, it +ain't reasonable. Seems to me as it aer likely that what Beaver Jack +says aer right. Them 'ere skunks is half-breeds out ter rob. They've +perhaps been huntin'. P'raps they belong to some station north of +this, and has been sent along to get stores or to take a message, +though as a general rule there ain't much of that sorter work done in +the winter. Anyways, they dropped on our trace and, seein' as there +was three of us, made up their minds to wipe us out. But ef they ain't +mighty careful they'll come up agin bad trouble afore they're much +older." + +That was the utmost that one could say of this mystery. After all, +what difference did it make who these strangers might be? It could not +help Joe and his friends to be sure of their names, not in the +slightest. But still Joe puzzled. Could it be Hurley? + +"Nonsense!" he told himself. "Hank must be right. The man would never +risk his neck just on the offchance of killing a couple of the men who +helped to arrest him. All the same, I wish he'd never escaped, and in +any case, I am awfully sorry about that envelope he took from me. I've +bothered about it a whole heap; for though I feel sure that the +contents were of no actual monetary value, yet there was some message +of great importance which Father wished me to have once I had made some +sort of a place in the world. What could it have been?" + +What, indeed? Of what use to worry, seeing that Hurley had relieved +our hero of the missive, and then, when that rascal had been captured, +though his dollar bills were forthcoming, there was no trace of the +letter? It was gone. Perhaps even Hurley was already captured, while +the men following at that moment, and still out of sight, had +undoubtedly no connection with the outlaw who had so nearly ended Joe's +attempts at settling in this vast dominion. + +"Guess they've been bothered by the trees, and has had to climb out of +the sledges and walk quiet," chuckled Hank, when a quarter of an hour +had passed without a sight of the enemy. "Now see here, mates, our +game aer as clear as daylight. With this here snow all around we can't +hope to smother our tracks and get clear off. Ef it war springtime, or +summer, a babe could do it. There's fifty ways more or less. We could +climb a tree, sneak along from branch to branch in a wood same as this +and then drop into a river, takin' care to land somewhere whar there +was rock. In course, ef it snowed jest now that'd help us. But then +it ain't goin' to snow. There's nary a cloud in the sky, so it simply +comes to holding them off as long as we're able, and this here aer jest +the spot to work it. Guess me and Joe'll have a bite while Jack +watches. When we've done, he can have a turn." + +It was an excellent proposal on the hunter's part, and Joe seized upon +the opportunity, for the brisk air and the excitement of the day had +given him a keen appetite, and our hero had become somewhat notorious +for that since he came to this glorious country. He and Hank sat down, +therefore, and, pulling some of their ready-cooked food from their pack +bags, made a hearty meal. Then Beaver Jack was relieved, while Joe +took his place. + +"Jest keep yer eyes skinned, and follow every inch of the line of the +wood 'way across the open," said Hank. "I'm goin' to take a look round +on either hand and in front. It wouldn't do to sit tight here waitin' +and waitin', and have them skunks round us up and come along towards us +from the opposite direction. You kin never say what sort o' tricks a +half-breed will be up to, so jest look lively." + +He went off through the trees for all the world as if he were a ghost, +his snowshoes making not so much as a sound. Joe lay flat on his face +in the snow, taking the same position that Beaver Jack had selected. +Placing his rifle a little to one side and somewhat in front, he stared +steadily across the open, watching the edge of the wood from which they +had themselves lately emerged, and then gazing to right and to left. +But not yet could he detect the presence of the enemy, and since they +were not there, he fell again to wondering who they were, from whence +they had come, and for what purpose they had attacked a party of +hunters who could by no possibility have done them harm, and who, in +any case, could not be the possessors of great wealth. As to his own +feelings on the question of personal danger, he had not so much as a +qualm. Perhaps, if he had been warned that an attack was to be made, +he would have been thrown into that curious condition which is neither +caused by fear nor by anxiety, but merely by that natural agitation of +spirit which comes to the average man when danger threatens. But here +Joe had been, as it were, suddenly pitchforked into the midst of +turmoil. At one moment he had been facing a charging moose, a +situation requiring nerve, and the next he had found himself the object +of bullets sent by an enemy from behind. Ah, there they were! The +irregular line of the forest was of a sudden broken; Joe had been +gazing in that direction but a second earlier and had seen nothing. +Now, when his eyes swung once more to that quarter, two sleighs stood +out prominently, their dog teams sprawling out ahead of them. The dark +figures of five men moved about the sleighs, and it was clear from +their movements that they had been marching through the forest, and +were now about to mount their vehicles again. + +"Slipping off their snowshoes and getting ready for a burst of speed +across the open," said Joe to himself. "That'll be the time to read +'em a lesson, and seems to me they deserve one." + +He turned his head for a moment and beckoned to Beaver Jack; then, +picking up his rifle, he laid the sights on one of the sledges and +waited for a forward move on the part of the enemy. Nor could it be +said that our hero had the smallest doubt as to what his action should +be, or the slightest compunction at the thought of firing on these +strangers. + +"It's they or us," he told himself, "and they have a bigger party. Ah! +what's that? More of them!" + +No wonder he gave vent to a cry of amazement, for a hurried inspection +of the party aboard the pursuing sleighs had given him the impression +at the beginning of this strange encounter that there were only four or +more in the party. Now he knew that the sleighs bore five. But just +as that number had embarked, he was thunderstruck to see four more dark +figures issue from the irregular line of the forest and move out on to +the open snow. At the same instant there was a slight noise beside +him, so, turning his head, he found Hank had returned and had taken up +a position. He lay full length, his rifle to his hand, his eyes glued +on the enemy. + +"The tarnation skunks!" Joe heard him growl. "I ain't surprised to see +more of 'em. That jest explains why they've been so slow in following. +The sleigh party went ahead, hoping to drive right up to us and finish +the business. T'others followed afoot, and when the fust lot was +disappointed, why, they halted for a while so as they could all come +along together. This aer mighty awkward. Yer see, ef they breaks up +into several lots, we can't hope to keep 'em back. There's enough +hollows and trees out there in the open to give 'em shelter, and in +course of time they're bound to close in on us. This aer a tarnation +fix." + +There was little doubt, in fact, that Joe and his comrades were face to +face with a dangerous dilemma. For, as Hank was not slow to point out, +if merely the two sleigh parties attempted a dash across the open, he +and Joe and Jack might very well hope to pick some of the enemy off, +and even to force them to retreat; but with four others added, and they +on snowshoes, it would be next door to impossible to hold them at a +distance. + +"It aer come to a council," said Hank, scratching his head. "To me it +seems likely enough that them cusses aboard the sleighs'll try a dash. +Wall, that won't help 'em overmuch, for in a jiffy we'll teach 'em +something worth learnin'. What bothers me is to say how we should work +ef they makes across, taking advantage of every bit of cover. Where +are we to go? We can't keep runnin' away for ever. 'Sides, I ain't so +sure as I'm ready to show my heels to skunks same as these." + +There was a resentful, threatening note in his words, and, glancing at +the little hunter, Joe saw that his face was flushed, while his little +eyes were flashing dangerously. After all, in spite of his somewhat +diminutive proportions, there was quite a lot of the bull dog about +Hank. Those who knew the hunter knew him to be a cunning and +courageous tracker, a man to be depended on, a friend worth having, an +enemy more than difficult to make--for Hank hated quarrels, and was for +ever ready to forgive and forget--and yet an enemy to be duly feared +and placated. Those who had been so unfortunate never to have had the +opportunity of meeting this remarkable little man, save on one +occasion, were none the less impressed. Hank's was a personality that +bred confidence. Strength of character, honesty of purpose, bull-dog +determination were written plainly on his face, even while it was +wreathed with the most cordial smiles. Joe had felt the very same +about his friend. Hank had impressed him from the first. Sometimes he +imagined that long acquaintance had disclosed all the hunter's points, +good and bad, to him. But even now he had something to learn. He had +never seen his friend in a similar position to this; he had never known +him when he was the object of an unprovoked attack, and when the odds +were opposed to him. But seeing his firm face now, the strong +determination on every feature, his own chin took on something of the +same aspect. Looking at the two as they lay side by side, one would +have said at once that while the elder man could be relied on whatever +the position, his youthful comrade was not one whit behind him. + +"Wall?" came from Hank dryly, while the lock of his rifle clicked. +"Ain't you goin' to speak?" + +Joe looked sharply across at him. "Eh?" he asked. "I thought you were +speaking to Beaver Jack and asking his opinion." + +"And mighty nice of you, lad," came the answer. "I like to see a young +chap as keeps his mouth shut till his elders has spoken. But there +ain't too much time before us, and 'sides, I know that Jack would ha +spoken already ef he had anything to say. What's your idea? You've +reckoned the position. You ain't ready to go on runnin' away from a +set o' skunks same as them, aer you?" + +"No!" came emphatically from our hero. "Partly because I couldn't. +I'd soon be done, for this snowshoeing is heavy work to one who is not +hardened. Then I don't see why I should. Who are they that we should +run from them? Let 'em prove that they are stronger." + +"Gee! You'll do!" cried Hank. "That's the sort of spirit. Wall, now, +you've some sort of idea?" + +"None." Joe was bound to confess it. "But," he went on, "it seems to +me that we ought to look out for some place which we can hold. Of +course it could only be for a short while, as we have no large supply +of food; but it would bring this business to a head. Perhaps these +fellows would make an attack and give us a chance of beating them. If +not, why--well something might turn up to help, and in any case it +would be better than this constant running." + +"And I'm with you," cried Hank; "only jest now there's not so much as +the sight of a place where we could hold 'em, and till one turns up, +why, in course, it's run we must. But we'll keep a bright lookout. +See here, and jest you listen, Beaver Jack. We'll give them fellers a +dusting ef they try to cross, and then we'll trail arms and slink off +through the forest. Something'll turn up soon to help us." + +It was perhaps two minutes later that there was a general move on the +part of the enemy. The leading man aboard each sleigh was seen to +stand, gripping the reins in one hand while he swung a short-handled +whip with the other, one which boasted of an enormously long and heavy +lash that even a moderately skilful operator could cause to crack with +the sound of a rifle report. + +"Ay, and more'n that," Hank had observed on one occasion. "I've known +men who could swing a whip so as to cut in two anything that was +anywheres within reach. One half-breed from 'way up north could stand +on his head even and cut slick through a chunk of bread, while there +ain't one of them that's used to the whip and has dogs to drive that +couldn't set a pal up afore him with a cigarette in his mouth and jest +flick the cigarette away as easy and as sartin as winkin'. Then, too, +the cut of a heavy lash same as they use is that keen, they say some of +'em could nearly divide a dog with it, ay, cut him in two, while they'd +easy whip a chunk out o' the poor beasts. Cruel! In course them whips +is cruel, and so's the men. But then you ain't dealing with ordinary +dogs; them critters is fierce, and ef they was hungry ain't above +tearing a human to pieces." + +But this was not the moment for discussing the pros and cons of dog +whips, nor the prowess of the men who wield them; for the enemy were on +the move. It seemed almost as if they had made up their minds to +ignore all thoughts of danger; or perhaps they imagined that Hank had +led his two comrades steadily forward, and was not lying beneath the +trees beyond the open space waiting with loaded rifles for them. In +any case, the drivers sent their whips cracking over their teams, while +the dogs responded by leaping into their harness and speeding away from +the irregular line of the forest. At the same moment the four men on +foot, who were shod with snowshoes, shot out from the cover and, +dividing till a wide interval separated each man, came speeding across +the snow. + +"Beaver Jack takes 'em to right," said Hank steadily, not a waver in +his voice. "I take the critters in the centre; Joe pays partic'lar +attention to the varmint on the left. Fire as you get 'em in line with +your sights." + +A spurt of flame issued from his own muzzle a second or so later, Joe +peering out across the snow to see what effect the bullet had; and once +more he was witness of the effect of a missile striking a glancing blow +on the snowfield. A cloud of white particles suddenly leaped up in +front of the foremost sleigh, hiding the men aboard it, while a shout +came from the enemy. + +"Missed 'em by a pip," observed Hank, ramming in a fresh cartridge. +"You, Joe." + +Our hero lined his sights on the second sleigh, followed the moving +object for a moment, then pressed his trigger; and all the while as he +aimed he was wondering at his own coolness. He might indeed have been +firing at inanimate objects. The idea that he was aiming at living men +hardly seemed to trouble him in the slightest, while if he had any +qualms at the thought that his bullet might slay a fellow being, he +never showed them. + +"It's they or us," he repeated for the tenth time at least. "They've +made an unprovoked attack, and must put up with the consequences." + +Bang! His own weapon spat forth a bullet, while a cloud of white smoke +belched from the muzzle, to die away at once. All eyes went toward the +sleigh he had aimed at, and once again the tell-tale spray of snow +showed exactly where the missile had landed, and precisely by how much +it had missed the enemy. + +"Not bad shootin'," said Hank. "Them sleighs is moving fast, and you +want to give 'em at least a yard ahead when you're aiming. Beaver +Jack, jest you see what you're made of." + +There came a grunt from the Redskin. Joe watched the seamed and lined +and strangely-impassive face of the Indian go down towards the butt of +his rifle. He saw the hooked nose settle itself against the wood of +the stock, while one of the keen eyes seemed to become rather more +prominent. There came a sharp report, and almost at once an answering +scream from the distance. + +"Good fer you!" cried Hank. "Guess you got the man aboard the leading +sleigh, and in falling backward he aer pulled the team in. Jest sit +tight while I give 'em another, and you follow quick with your bullet, +Joe lad." + +In rapid succession the two shots were fired, and it seemed more than +probable that they had hit their mark, for the men aboard the leading +sleigh were thrown in great confusion. One was seen to stand and grip +at the reins which his wounded comrade had allowed to fall. Then the +team of dogs was headed round, the whip cracked, and in a trice the +sleigh was being steered for the forest. Meanwhile a shot from Beaver +Jack had caused one of the men gliding across the snow afoot to dodge +suddenly to one side, and that, with the evidence the enemy now had +that Hank and his friends had them under their rifles, sent the +remainder of the band retracing their steps at a pace which was +furious. Shouts escaped from them as they raced for cover, and in +little more than a minute all had disappeared from view. + +"That aer lesson number one," said Hank grimly, as he slid a fresh +cartridge into position. "Ef them 'ere critters thought they was going +to slit our throats without our kicking up a rumpus, why, they've found +out the error. It'll make 'em a trifle more cautious now that one of +'em's gone under, and they kin see that we are able to shoot; but it +won't turn 'em, I'm thinkin'. A half-breed ain't easily frightened, +and ef it's gain they are after, why, this'll make 'em all the keener." + +"What will they do, then?" asked Joe, who still lay on his face, his +eyes glued on the distant forest. "It seems to me that if we can only +stay here and hold them, they cannot get nearer. Of course, when night +comes we shall be unable to see them, and nothing will prevent their +getting closer." + +"Guess that aer solid truth," agreed Hank. "But there's more besides. +I've been takin' a good look round, and I've kinder put myself in the +place of them critters. Wall, now, it aer clear that we can't climb +over the ridge to our left. It rises quickly, and the snow lies in +deep drifts; so we've got to go dead straight ahead or cut away down to +the valley we left this morning. That being so, ef they believe we +mean to lie here and hold 'em from crossing the open, they'll leave a +man just to show himself every now and then, while the rest of the +party strikes downhill and gets abreast of us. Then they'll come +climbing up, and ef we stays they'll have us hard up agin the hill +before we know what's happened. Leastwise, that's what I should do ef +I was their leader." + +"So you advise that we move on at once?" asked Joe, rising to his feet. +"Perhaps farther along we shall come upon some place which would offer +good shelter, some sort of natural fort in which we could take cover. +I've an idea that----" + +He came to a sudden stop and pointed out across the snow-covered ground +before them. + +"One of them critters," growled Hank. "Seems as ef I might be right. +He's showing clear, and--yes, there ain't a doubt about it. He's got +one arm hung in a sling." + +There came an instant response from Beaver Jack, a deep-toned grunt. +His keen eyes had evidently taken in all that was passing. "Same man +as sit on the sleigh and tumble backwards," he grunted. "Not badly +hurt. Bullet make hole through the arm, and that nothing." + +"Only it jest makes him useless for the moment. See here," said Hank, +"I'll move into the open and give him a shot. Likely as not he'll +signal to his comrades." + +On second thoughts the little hunter refrained from using his rifle. +"I might hit him," he said, "and that ain't what I want. I'll jest let +him get a squint at me, so as to make him feel sartin we're remaining +here; then I'll hop back till he shows agin. Ah! Ain't that given him +pleasure? He's gone into cover, but ef you look close you kin see him +just inside the line o' trees wavin'. Gee! Don't they take us fer +soft 'uns? As ef a baby wouldn't guess what was up." + +There was no doubt now that the enemy, whoever they might be, had taken +the course which Hank guessed at. Their design was clear and apparent, +for the wounded man made repeated appearances during the next ten +minutes, diving into the trees again on each occasion. + +"You was sayin' that you had an idea," said Hank at length, stretching +himself beside our hero. "What aer that idea?" + +"I was thinking of the sort of place that would suit us," began Joe. +"It occurred to me that there must be many little hollows which might +serve our purpose, provided that they could not be overlooked; for it +wouldn't do for these beggars to climb higher and pitch their bullets +down upon us." + +"That aer sense," agreed Hank. "Wall?" + +"But----" + +"There aer always a but," asserted the little hunter. "It aer there +that gumption always comes in. Nothing goes right and straight in this +world unless you help it. A man has to use his wits and his strength +most always. What aer this but?" + +"Just this," said Joe. "What's the use of a fort--a natural fort I'm +meaning, though the same thing applies of course to one built by human +hands--what's the use of such a place if you can't live in it?" + +"Eh?" Hank pushed back his coon-skin cap and scratched his head. This +argument was getting somewhat beyond him. He was a cute and cunning +little fellow, stuffed full of worldly experience and of forest lore, +but subtle argument was beyond him. "See here, Joe," he cried, +somewhat testily; "plain words are wanted jest now. What's the meaning +of this here fort that you've mentioned? Are you propounding a sorter +puzzle?" + +That set Joe grinning for the moment; but almost at once he became +serious. "I'm in dead earnest, Hank," he said. "But this is what I'm +driving at. We've no grub to speak of." + +"Precious little." + +"And no pots nor pans." + +"I'm a-getting through with the argiment," declared the hunter. + +"And it's likely to be mighty cold when we're cooped up in some hollow +and unable to move about as we are now doing. In fact, blankets are +wanted." + +"All that aer sense," said Hank, jamming his hat back into place and +staring closely at our hero. "Wall?" + +"Well, my idea is this. Since we can't climb away to the left, as the +ground rises so steeply, and as we can make the pace hot if we happen +to be going downhill, why not strike in that direction at once, sweep +to the right, and make back for our camp? That'll give us food and +pots and pans and blankets. We'll be better able then to look about us +for some sort of place that will give us cover. Tell you straight, +Hank, I'm getting more worried at the thought that the supper'll be +small to-night than I am at the knowledge that those rascals are after +us." + +Hank grinned widely; his queer little lips, usually pursed close +together, parted in a capacious smile which he only indulged in on +occasion. A deep-throated grunt came from him, and almost at once his +rifle leapt across his shoulder. + +"That aer solid sense," he cried at length. "Guess we'll make slick +back to our camp, and then, when we've collected our traps and had a +feed, why, we kin give some sort of attention to this other business. +I'll step out agin so as to allow the critter yonder to see me. Then +we'll face downhill, wait till the enemy ha' crossed in front, and go +away over their tracks straight back to the spot where our traps are +lying." + +It was not by any means certain, of course, that this plan of procedure +would improve their lot and aid them in escaping from the half-breeds +who had so unwarrantably attacked them; but at least, if they were +successful in reaching their camp, it would provide them with a hearty +meal, and that was something. + +"A full stummick makes a man look differently at troubles," observed +Hank, as he slipped on his snowshoes. "Difficulties seem to slide away +as soon as you've a good supper tucked behind your waistcoat. Joe, +we'll reach the camp even ef there's a hundred critters between us and +the place. Jest sling yer rifle, and don't forget, ef you hear a sound +or see one of the varmint, jest drop as ef you was dead. Silence and +cunning will help us heaps more'n bullets." + +With rifles slung, and Hank in advance, the trio once more set +themselves in motion. The little hunter went straight on into the wood +till he was sure that none outside could see them, then he turned his +face downhill, and, setting an easy pace, led his comrades towards the +valley. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Choosing a Fortress + +Barely ten minutes had passed from the moment when Hank led the way +downhill, from the spot where he and his comrades had taken up their +position and had repulsed the enemy, till the little hunter suddenly +lifted an arm, bringing the party to an abrupt halt. Then he signalled +to Beaver Jack, and with the lean, lanky figure of the Redskin beside +him, stood listening intently. A second later all three were lying +flat on their faces. + +"You kin hear folks moving somewhars about," whispered the little +hunter in Joe's ear, "but where they aer is more'n I kin say at the +moment. Yer see, the snow makes things mighty difficult, while the +tree trunks break up every sound and scatter it in all directions. But +them critters is moving near. Seems likely they ha' halted for a +while." + +Tense silence fell upon the three, while each one huddled his body +deeper into the snow, edging behind the largest tree and doing his +utmost to make himself invisible. Hank, indeed, burrowed beneath the +snow, and extracting huge handfuls of the white crystals, tossed them +over his body. + +"In course no half-breed and no Injun would pass us within a hundred +yards and not see us," he said grimly. "But every little helps in +cases like this. S--s--sh! Didn't I hear someone callin'?" + +"Down there." Joe pointed eagerly downhill, hardly even whispering the +words. And then, quite plainly to the ears of every one of the party, +there came the note of a human voice, subdued and eager. Rising in +cadence for the instant, it fell immediately and then died away +altogether. Afterwards not a sound disturbed the ghostly silence of +the patch of forest through which they were passing; that is, not a +sound audible to our hero. Hank's staring eyes and the eager +expression on the hawk-like face of the Redskin told their own story. +They heard something. To them the presence of the enemy was evident. +Ah! Joe buried his head still deeper, for away in the distance a +figure came of a sudden into view sliding silently between the tree +trunks. A second followed, muffled to the eyes; a third, a fourth, +till eight in all were visible. Perhaps two hundred yards separated +them from Joe and his comrades. Perhaps they were even closer. In any +case, their proximity was such that the little party in hiding was in +the utmost danger. One point, however, was in their favour. The enemy +were facing the west, and were cutting across the line of flight which +our hero had suggested. A minute passed, then two. It began to look +as if the danger would be gone in a few moments. Then, of a sudden, +that low-pitched, eager voice was heard again, and, raising his head +ever so slightly, Joe saw that the enemy had halted and were now +bunched together. + +"Talking it over," he told himself, hearing voices. "They have an idea +that they have come far enough west, and that now they had better cut +uphill again, having got well behind us. Wish they had gone on another +hundred yards or so, then there wouldn't have been any danger." + +"The critters!" he heard Hank growl. "Ef they ain't turning uphill at +this instant!" + +That indeed seemed to be the intention of the enemy; for, breaking from +the circle into which they had collected, they went off again in single +file, one burly individual leading. As for the features of these +unfriendly strangers, what they were like and of exactly what +nationality, neither Joe nor Hank nor Beaver Jack had the smallest +inkling; for the enemy one and all were thickly clad in furs, muffled +to their eyes, and at that distance seemed to be merely grotesque +bundles of clothing. This, however, was certain--they were adepts at +the art of snowshoeing. Not one but was accustomed to the forest, for +beyond a voice or two not another sound had come from them. Facing the +hillside, they curled off in that direction and slowly moved upward. + +"It aer a toss up," Hank whispered, under his breath. "Yer see, now +that they've turned they gets a broadside view of where we're lying +instead of a head-on view. See here, Joe, ef they spots us, jest get +in behind a tree and pepper 'em; if they don't, be ready to move off +the instant we're able. Seems to me as ef I've an idea that'll bother +them badly." + +The ten minutes which followed were trying, for once again the enemy +halted, gathering together to discuss the situation. It appeared as if +they were a little uncertain of their position, and at one moment they +appeared to be on the point of proceeding in the direction which they +were taking when first Joe and his friends saw them. But at last they +went on again and slowly passed out of hearing. + +"That war a near go," whispered Hank, with a sigh of relief, as he rose +to an erect position. "Now fer that idea of mine. Yer see, we've got +to bother 'em badly, fer it won't be long afore they comes upon the +spot where we were lying. In course there'll be a hullabaloo at once, +and back they'll come after us. Ef they're sure of the line we've +taken they'll cut clear across for their sleighs, and then there won't +be a dog's chance for us. Joe, look lively jest now, and see as you do +as you see me and Beaver Jack doing." + +He faced downhill without another word, while the Redskin fell in +behind him. Indeed, the silent man seemed to have already guessed at +Hank's intentions, or was it that the cunning learned by all hunters is +of such a class that their minds move always on parallel lines, and +difficulties are met in almost similar fashion? Whatever the reason, +Beaver Jack seemed to have guessed intuitively what Hank's plan was to +be, and fell in behind him without uttering a syllable. Then came Joe, +watching closely, wondering what new tricks he would see put into +execution. + +"It aer plain," began Hank, when at length he had reached the track +along which the enemy had so recently passed, "it aer clear as daylight +that when them critters finds that we have moved, they will come +dashing downhill as ef there was demons behind 'em. They'll come along +in our tracks, and ef we was to cross their own here and cut a line of +our own, why, in course there wouldn't be any need for 'em to wait to +look about for the direction. So here we plays an old Injun game that +ain't so often practised in these days--now!" + +He swung round, and moving a few paces beside the track which the +half-breeds had followed, joined it at an acute angle, making it appear +as if he and his comrades were going in the same direction. Then the +wily little hunter stepped out of his snowshoes and, reversing his own +direction, thrust his warmly-moccasined feet into them in the reverse +order. + +"Yer catch the idea?" he grinned. "Now I walks along the way they +came, but to look at the marks I'll leave you'd think I was jest going +along with them. It aer said that a bear'll walk backward to his +winter lair so as to deceive his enemies. That's what we're doing." + +With shoes reversed, the little fellow set off at once, halting for a +few seconds, once he had passed his comrades, so as to enable each in +turn to step on to the track and face about. Then the three proceeded, +the turning of their shoes making no great difference to their +movement. As to the track they left, it was inextricably mixed up with +the marks made by the enemy, and seeing that their snowshoes were +reversed, it appeared that they were following the same direction. + +"Not as a Redskin nor a half-breed wouldn't spot the thing right off," +whispered Hank, "that is, ef it war a fresh track we was making; for it +aer natural for a man to put his heel down heavily, even when carrying +a snowshoe, and a practised tracker, same as these half-breeds, would +see that the front part of our shoes is pressed into the snow. But +here there's the marks of eight pairs of shoes already, and our +three'll mix up nicely with 'em. Now, boys, let's git along slick; +every second'll be of importance." + +It was in silence after that that they thrust their way through the +forest, and seeing that the direction the enemy had taken took the +little party downhill, their pace was extremely rapid. Perhaps half an +hour later Hank again came to a halt, pointing before him. + +"Here we takes our own line," he said. "I guess those critters cut +downhill amongst the trees yonder till they had got below a fold in the +ground which would hide them. Then they swung straight across for our +side, knowing that we couldn't see 'em. Wall, we'll do the same; we'll +strike straight out into the open and, cutting away from their track, +dive down the hill into the valley. After that we'll make a bee-line +for the camp, and there make ready for the ruction that's bound to +follow. Seems to me, Joe, as ef I'd already got an idea of a spot that +would give us cover." + +"Stop! Listen!" suddenly exclaimed our hero, raising one hand and +standing in the position of keen attention. "I heard sounds from +behind us. I feel sure that----" + +"Yer ain't got no need to tell us what it aer," said Hank curtly, in +the abrupt way he had when something specially stirred him. "Them +critters has got to the point where they hoped to spring upon us and +wipe us out, and they aer fair bustin' with rage to find that we've +given 'em the slip. They'll be tumblin' downhill now as fast as their +legs will bring 'em, and ef it warn't that we've put up a fine start +and have left something behind to worry 'em a little, they'd be on our +heels afore we could look round. Now, Beaver Jack, guess we've a long +chase afore us; you kin take the lead and strike slick for the camp. +I'll go behind and keep a weather eye open for them critters." + +There was perfect order and coolness amongst the little party, though a +glance at any one of the faces showed that all appreciated the danger +of their position. No one, indeed, could have failed to gather that +discovery of their escape would bring the whole pack of half-breeds +chasing after them; the exchange of shots between the two parties, and +the fact that the enemy had been the first to open fire proved, if +proof were wanted, that a closer approach on their part would result in +more shots, and in the slaying of Joe and his friends, if that were +possible. + +"But why? What is the attack made for?" Joe found himself saying under +his breath again and again. "We don't look to be rich, I'm sure. +We're just ordinary trappers or prospectors, and from what I have +gathered such people don't carry much in the way of money with them. +The rich prospectors, also, don't dream of setting out into the +backwoods during the winter. They choose the spring and summer for two +reasons, I guess. One, because then they can see the land, for there +isn't any snow, and so can search for the veins of metal which attract +them; and secondly, because they haven't severe weather to face. It +beats me hollow; one would have thought that these men had been set +upon us for some other purpose than that of robbery." + +It was one of those questions, in fact, which would have taken a more +worldly-wise fellow than Joe to answer; indeed, had he but known the +true reason of this unlooked-for and undeserved attack, he would have +been astounded. For the band then shrieking and shouting behind them, +and at that moment dashing downhill on their snowshoes, had set out to +search for our hero and his friends. They had hunted high and low for +the trace of two prospectors, for the snowshoe marks left by Joe and +Hank, and had fallen upon those marks prior to their joining hands with +Beaver Jack. But the accession of one to the number of the little +party made not the smallest difference. Why should it? There were +nine in this gang, and only three in the other. + +But Joe had other things to do than to worry his head as to reasons. +After all, what did it matter who this enemy was? What difference +could knowing make to our hero and his friends? For enemies are much +the same all the world through. Once it is demonstrated that they aim +at the slaying of those they follow, all come under the same heading. +All are dangerous, and it behoves those who have to defend their lives +to take the utmost precautions. + +Beaver Jack therefore led the flight at a speed which suited Joe, who +did not find it very hard to keep up, seeing that the way lay downhill. +As for the Redskin, he might have been out for a promenade only; his +shoes slid over the now hard-frozen surface with a queer little +rustling sound, seeming to carry the user's legs rather than to require +effort on his part. His head was sunk low down upon his breast, his +hooked nose and upturned chin approximated. But nothing escaped this +man of the woods, this child of nature, whose hearing and instincts +were as developed as those of the wildest animal. + +Hank made a pretty, if a rugged picture. The little man seemed almost +to have his ears cocked backwards. In any case, they lay flat against +his head, the coon-skin cap just dropping on to them. His head was +erect, and even as he slid along over the snow there was little doubt +that not a sound escaped him. + +"Them critters ha' jest come to the spot whar we dropped in on their +trace," he growled. "You kin tell as they're finely bothered. Seems +to me they'll send a party forward and one along this way, and in a bit +we shall hear a hullabaloo that'll be loud enough to scare the moose +this side of the big lakes. You ain't tired, Joe?" + +"Not I!" came the hearty answer. "Could go on for a while longer." + +"Then you'll have need. There won't be so much between us by the time +we reach camp; then it'll be a case fer thinkin'." + +As if the question of their further movements bothered him, as indeed +it did, his fingers slid up beneath his cap, a habit the little fellow +had, and played with a loose lock of his thick hair; for Hank's hair +was thick. Barbers do not live round the corner in the backwoods of +Canada, and a long crop of hair is rather an advantage to a man when +the temperature is below zero. It followed, therefore, that Hank's +head was well covered, and Joe's also. Indeed, our hero showed a +somewhat ungainly growth of fluff about chin and cheeks and upper lip, +which, if it made promise of budding manhood, could not be said to be +expressly elegant. But there again your backwoodsman shines. The man +who carries all his belongings with him upon his back and sets off for +a winter, meaning to spend it in the open air, subsisting on what his +gun can procure for him, is not likely to be over-nervous as to his +appearance. Hair will grow, and garments will become rent, even with +the greatest care. Life also is too strenuous to make smaller things +matter. Suffice it to say that Joe looked a gentleman in spite of his +get-up, while already he had proved himself a jovial and boon +companion, one ready to enjoy sport if it came, to take the rough with +the smooth, and to face danger as if it were part of the day's +happenings. + +"Ha! There they go, yelping like a pack o' dogs," cried Hank, a little +later, when shouts and yelps came resounding from the forest and across +the snow-clad face of the hillside. "Let 'em yell! It don't do us no +harm, and don't bring the critters any nearer. + +"How far now to camp?" asked Joe, swinging his head round. + +"Guess we're more'n halfway; in half an hour we shall do it. Suppose +these fellers has been there already and has cleared all that we left." + +The suggestion was disconcerting, for supposing the enemy had taken all +the worldly belongings of this little party, how could they face a +prolonged journey? In the summer it would make but little difference, +for a stew-pan and a kettle are not absolute necessaries. Compared +with the needs of the Redskins, they are merely luxuries, though long +acquaintance with those useful articles has made white men find them an +important portion of camping equipment. The habit of tea-drinking +throughout the settlements and townships of the Dominion requires a +kettle, and Joe doubted whether even the resourceful Beaver Jack could +supplement such an article, however many birch trees there might be, +and whatever his skill in fashioning the bark. + +"Never cry till you're kicked," sang out Hank cheerfully, "and when +you're kicked jest kick back mighty hard, ef only to show as you're +still movin'. Ef they've took our kit, it's bad; ef they wipe us out +clean, it's wuss. Let's put on steam a bit." + +Beaver Jack seemed to understand the demand at once, for he broke into +something resembling a jog trot, if there is such a thing when dealing +with snowshoes. In any case, his feet slid over the snow at increased +pace, and Joe found himself sweeping forward at a speed which set the +freezing air buzzing against his ears, and brought a bright flush of +colour to his face. It soon became evident, too, that the wily Redskin +had noted every feature of the ground as he led his friends from the +camp that morning; for suddenly, as the surface ceased to shelve and +became almost level, he changed his direction. Nor did he join the +wide track which presently crossed before him; he merely grunted and +pointed. + +"Half-breeds come along there," he said. "Go different way ourselves." + +Joe looked closely at the trace they were crossing. There were the +marks of the runners of two sleighs cutting through tracks evidently +left by the dog teams, and on either hand, and mixed up with the former +marks, were the impressions of many snowshoes. + +"But--" he began, "if this is their line, and they followed us from the +camp, as seems more than likely, why not take the same line back? They +are sure to have come the quickest way." + +"You bet; they jest followed our trace, and guess we came direct," said +Hank. "Only you can't see our marks, as they've trod all over 'em. +But you leave this here matter to Beaver Jack. He aer a cunnin' boy, +and 'way back at the end of his head he's got an idea that'll knock +fits out of them 'ere critters. I've half guessed at it already; +you'll see. Seems to me we shall almost fly the last half of the +distance." + +"Eh?" Joe stared at the little hunter. He was quite willing to be +led, and had implicit faith in his companions, but he was one of those +inquisitive fellows who like to know the why and wherefore of +everything. "But--fly!" he exclaimed. + +"Ay--fly!" grinned Hank; "jest go along quicker nor a sleigh could take +us. Ain't that it, Jack?" + +Beaver Jack could enjoy a joke with anyone, only he enjoyed it in a +manner peculiarly his own, or, one might more correctly say, in a +manner characteristic of his people. His eyes were twinkling as he +faced about, while his hooked nose and upturned chin seemed to have +approached even nearer. + +"It is well that the young men should know what is happening," he said. +"They look to their elders for instruction, and in asking thus Joe +shows that he is interested. It will also tell him the need there is +always to watch the country he passes through. Listen: the land beyond +falls very steeply. Leaving the camp, we passed to the right, so as to +gain a track which was easy. To climb is hard; to descend is a +different matter." + +It was not all said in that fashion, for Beaver Jack's English was not +of an advanced order. But a man of intelligence could understand him +with ease, and, hearing what he had to say, Joe quickly realized what +was about to happen. Also he remembered that the ground did rise +immediately in front of their camp, and at such an angle that to climb +it would have been almost impossible; but to descend would be easy. + +"Easy as fallin' off a house," grunted Hank. "Jest sit down on your +snowshoes and slide; sleighing won't be in it." + +Speeding along now across a field of virgin snow through which an +occasional tree cropped, the party were not long in gaining a belt of +forest trees clinging to the hillside. Passing through these, they +again emerged on to a space which was open, and over which the white +winter mantle was spread, without so much as a footmark to mar its +beauty. But the field seemed to end abruptly on that edge farthest +from the summit of the hills, and striking out for the white line where +sky and snow seemed to merge, the trio soon found themselves on the +verge of a steep and smooth declivity. From it a splendid view was to +be obtained, for the rays from the declining sun lit up a gorgeous +landscape, swept with white from end to end, dotted here and there with +darker patches, showing long shadows where the hollows lay, while +patches of trees of larger and smaller extent cropped up everywhere. +There was their camp, too, nestling at the foot of a clump of pines, +while at its back was one huge expanse of white, unbroken, unmarked, +bearing not even a shadow. + +"A lake, and a big 'un, too," observed Hank. "Ef we'd looked that way +this morning once we got on to the hill we might have seen it. But we +was in the trees most of the time, and I expect that folds in the +ground kept us elsewhere. Now fer a slide. Slip yer gun from yer +shoulder and use it as a guiding stick. Yer see, it's mighty steep +here, and though, ef you rolled from top to bottom, it wouldn't do no +great harm--for there's drifts that would catch you--still it's nicer +and better to go face forward. So put the butt in on one side and a +little behind, and guide and brake with it." + +That was a glorious ride down the hill. It carried Joe back to days, +now so far off they seemed, when there had been a heavy fall of snow in +England, and he, with friends in the little town, had rigged up a +toboggan and had carried it to the hills. The speed then had been +great; it was terrific here. However, there was no time for pausing; +besides, the Redskin made nothing of it. This form of progress seemed +to him to be much the same as any other. Without a word, with hardly a +look at his comrades, he strode to the very edge, sat down on his +snowshoes, and, thrusting the butt of his gun into the snow, pushed +himself over the brink. He went whirling down before a mighty cloud of +snowflakes kicked up by his shoes, and left behind him a track which a +man standing in the valley below could have seen from a great distance. +Once he swerved, and looked as if he were about to turn over; but the +guiding gun held him straight, and in an extraordinary short space of +time he was waiting for them at the bottom. + +"Wall," grinned Hank, "you or me? Ef there was a chance of them +critters coming along I'd say you." + +"And I'd say you," laughed Joe. "I'd feel that I had to stay to +protect you." + +"Gee! Ef that don't beat the hull band," gasped Hank. "Protect me, +you said! As ef I war a baby. Now, see here, lad; we'll make a race +of it. You're heavier nor me, and so will have an advantage. At the +same time, I'm that light I'll slide over the snow easier. We'll see +who makes the quickest job of it." + +"Agreed!" cried Joe. "Ready?" + +"Ready it aer." + +"Then off!" + +They thrust themselves over the edge and went whirling down, huge +clouds of snow spurting to either side of their snowshoes. Nor did Joe +find the task one of the easiest. He swerved, and with a dig of his +gun recovered his position. But the movement sent him twirling the +opposite way. He made a desperate effort, and wrenched his body round +again till he faced downhill; then, just as is the case with skis, +something seemed to go wrong with his snowshoes. They displayed an +unaccountable and all-powerful tendency to separate. No amount of +effort would draw them together. The result was speedy disaster. Joe +rose a little, struggling to regain equilibrium, but a curious thing +happened. The very raising of his body proved fatal; for suddenly the +shoes stuck fast, the toes entering the surface in spite of the steep +slope. Thus arrested, our hero pitched forward on to his head, doubled +up into a beautiful and most elegant circle, and went speeding down the +hill like a ball, this time at an infinitely quicker rate. His antics, +too, from that moment forward were more than funny, for he straightened +himself out, with arms and legs widespread. + +"I'll have the breath knocked clean out of my body if I don't come to a +stop soon," he thought. "Ah! That does it; that's better!" + +However, the relief was for the moment only. The pace lessened; he +began to think that presently he would find a resting-place from which +he might once more put himself in position for the remainder of the +descent. But alas! he was to be disappointed. Shooting into a deep +drift, he found himself buried beneath the snow, and expected to stay +there. But the force of his descent carried all before it. His body +broke through the mass of snow, and once more he was hurtling downward, +falling this way and that, sliding, rolling head first sometimes, and +at others the reverse. At last, however, he was able to arrest the +rapid and exciting movement. + +"Gee!" he cried. "That was a doer! Where's my gun? And one shoe gone +also." + +It happened that the lost articles had more or less kept him company. +The gun, in fact, lay within a few feet of him, while as he turned +there was the lost snowshoe descending in a dignified manner towards +him. He snatched at it, donned it in haste, and once more prepared for +the rest of the journey. + +"Better luck, I hope," he said. "Ain't Hank grinning! The little +beggar made a clean run right to the bottom." + +On this second occasion Joe was more fortunate. He sat his shoes like +a practised hand, and went hurtling down to within a few feet of his +waiting comrades. + +"You've come at last," grinned Hank, as Joe picked himself up and rose +to an erect position. "Warn't it fair flyin'? Seemed to me as ef you +was spreading your wings because you wasn't quite satisfied. But you +ain't hurt, lad?" + +"Not a bit; rather enjoyed it," sang out our hero. + +"And ain't too much shook up? That sorter things kicks the breath +outer a body." + +"As fit as ever," grinned Joe, "and ready to continue. Where's the +camp?" + +"You're at the front door, as you might almost say," smiled the little +hunter. "There it aer." + +There it was indeed, almost nestling at the foot of the hill, and in +any case within a few hundred yards. It took the little party but a +few minutes to reach it. + +"Will they have taken all or not?" asked Hank somewhat anxiously, as +they came up to the place. "Ef so, it aer a bad lookout; ef not, why, +things is beginning to move in our favour." + +A deep-toned exclamation came from the Redskin, while his hawk-like +face took on for one brief instant an appearance of sublime content. + +"That's settled the matter," cried Hank. "You kin see as it aer all +right, fer Beaver Jack stood to lose the hull of his pelts and the +winter's work, which for him would be serious. He's seen that things +aer all right." + +"No take the pelts and the sleigh as they easy able to come back when +they killed us," said Beaver Jack, his eyes twinkling. + +"And so we'll take 'em," cried Hank. "But where? That do tease me +more'n a trifle. Jest about here we ain't no better off than we was +back up the hill, and men lyin' on the ridge above us could flick +bullets into our camp every time. I ain't bad at some sorter +conundrums, but here guess I've come to an end. Joe, boy, you are the +youngest and brightest; what do we do?" + +"Pack up at once, put all our things on Beaver Jack's sleigh, and make +clear across the lake to that island," said our hero, promptly pointing +across the smooth expanse of snow to where, nestling in the centre +almost, was a prominence above which hung the heavily-weighted branches +of a group of evergreens. "That'll be a fine castle," he said. "We've +now grub with us, besides pots and pans; there'll be firewood yonder, +and with that we'll be able to make ourselves comfortable. I'm for +making for that island." + +Hank gave a little exclamation, and struck himself violently on the +chest as if in punishment for not having thought of the same movement, +while the Redskin went to his sleigh, on which his store of pelts was +still bound, and taking up the tow rope began to move away from the +camp. + +"It aer jest the very thing for us," observed Hank, with eagerness. "I +war a thickhead too never to have thought of it. But lend a hand, Joe, +and let's get the traps fixed and packed. Them critters ain't likely +to be long now in coming." + +Very rapidly but carefully they packed all their goods on Beaver Jack's +sleigh, then, led by the Redskin, they stepped upon the snow-covered +surface of the lake. And as they pushed their way across it the shouts +of the enemy came to their ear, while presently they could be seen +descending the hillside. + +"They've seed what we're up to, and guess as they can't reach us afore +we're at the island," said Hank. "So now they'll go back to collect +their sleighs and dog teams. That'll give us time to breathe. We'll +make our lean-to right off, and get a kettle of water boiling. A brew +of hot tea won't come amiss after all this business." + +They found, in fact, that cups of boiling hot tea, sweetened with some +of the store of maple sugar which they had brought with them, was most +reviving. It sent the blood surging through their bodies, and, had +their courage been somewhat lacking, would even have restored that. +But Joe and his friends had a deal of fight left in them yet. They +hoped still to preserve their lives, and show these half-breeds who had +so outrageously attacked them that matters were not all in their favour. + +"We aer boxed in, more or less," said Hank, surveying his surroundings; +"but they ain't much better off. The moment one o' the critters steps +off on to the lake, we sees him. There'll be a moon to-night, and for +a week almost, so night won't make much difference to it. Joe, I begin +to think as this here island aer going to be the saving of us." + +Whether or no that was to be the case had yet to be seen. It was +fairly evident that the gallant little trio had a strenuous and +exciting time before them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Hurley's Conspiracy is Unfolded + +Nowhere else in the vast territories of the Dominion of Canada could +Joe and his two comrades have come upon a spot more suited to their +purpose than was the tiny island which cropped out almost in the centre +of the frozen and snow-covered surface of the vast lake they had +encountered during their prospecting tour in New Ontario. + +"It aer a fair treat," observed Hank, rubbing his half-frozen hands +together, with a gusto there was no mistaking. "I allow that when we +made back to our camp this afternoon things was looking uncommonly +black, and ef we had found that all our traps had been taken or burned +by them half-breeds, why, in course we should ha' been up a gum tree, +as Australians is fond of saying. How do I know they're fond o' sayin' +that, young feller?" he asked, with an appearance of severity he was +far from feeling; for Joe had laughingly asked the question. "Jest fer +this reason: there's Australians comes to Canada--not 'cos they don't +like their own country, for I never heard of one as didn't swear by +Australia; but, you see, things don't move quite as fast out there as +they do here. This Dominion aer the place for settlers above all +others for two good reasons. First, and it's a big 'un--the distance +from the old country is so short, which makes the passage easy and +cheap; and second, this here Government aer on the move all the time, +more even than that over in Australia. Yer see, they've got the masses +pouring in, and huge preparations has to be made. But we was talking +of this island." + +"Yes," agreed Joe, who long since had made a tour of the place. Not +that that was a journey of vast extent or of difficulty, for the little +heap of rock which cropped from the bed of the lake in such picturesque +fashion was barely big enough to house three dozen men. That number +would be uncomfortably squeezed together, as a matter of fact, and some +would be pressed from the edge. Then, again, its outer edge was raised +for all the world like the rim of a saucer, while the centre was +depressed into a number of irregular hollows. "A fine place," admitted +Joe warmly. "Shouldn't wonder if in summertime there is fresh water in +these hollows. In any case, though, that wouldn't matter, for there is +abundance of water in the lake. Seems to me we shall be able to make a +fort here that will bother those people." + +"What'd you do?" asked Hank, eager to discover the plans that Joe might +have made. "Here you are with a couple of young fellers, me and Beaver +Jack, to look after, and it aer up to you to protect us and lead us. +What'll you do? No laughing matter, young feller--I'm serious." + +It was hard to believe that, for never did hunter wear a more jovial +expression. To be precise, that exhilarating flight from before the +enemy, the discovery of their camp equipment undamaged, and then the +gaining of this unique position had lifted the spirits of all three of +the party wonderfully. + +"It aer a regular nest, this aer," grinned Hank. "Wall? What do you +make of it? Them critters is away over there talking things over, you +kin guess. Havin' a bit of a pow-wow, as the sayin' is. They've seed +us come away here, in course, for even now that the dusk are falling +you kin follow the track we've left across the snow. It aer up to you, +Joe, to fix a plan that'll save the lives of your two comrades." + +There was a twinkle in the little man's eyes, and, looking at him, one +would have said that he didn't care the toss of a button for the enemy, +though, like a sensible and cautious man, he would neglect nothing +which would give him an advantage over them. + +"I'd raise this edge all round, first of all," said Joe, "and I'd make +dummies to draw their bullets. We ourselves don't want to be perched +high up, unless during the night, for when it's daytime one can see +across the bare surface outside for a great distance; then I'd make +openings close to the rock through which we could fire. It seems to me +that by doing so we shall bother them, and make it difficult for them +to pick us off as they advance." + +"And how'd you raise the edge?" asked Hank, with interest. "Pile up +snow? That takes time." + +"I'd cut bricks of snow," was Joe's answer; "then, when they were built +into position, I'd break the ice, if that's possible, and throw water +on the outside face of the wall we've constructed. Talk about +armour-plate on a ship! That'll convert our fort into a regular +dreadnought." + +Hank turned on an expansive grin for our hero's special edification, +while even the austere Redskin smiled. "And these here snow bricks," +said Hank, "you'd take 'em from where?" + +"Just outside the island. That would leave a kind of trench all round, +and so give the enemy a greater height to climb, supposing they got to +close quarters." + +"Which aer likely enough, seeing as they're so many, and kin scatter so +as to make shooting extry difficult. Shucks, lad! Guess you've put +the case nicely. To make good out here we've got to have protection +more than rifles kin give us. We'll build that wall; seems to me it +aer the first thing that's wanted." + +Perhaps half an hour or more had passed since they reached the spot +where they were now awaiting the enemy, and during that time the busy +Indian had constructed a comfortable lean-to, while, as has been +narrated, Joe had built a fire and boiled the kettle. There being no +sign yet of the half-breeds, the whole party sat down about the fire to +discuss Joe's suggestions, while that young fellow himself delved in +one of the bags they always carried with them, brought to light a chunk +of frozen meat which, in that condition, would have required a +good-sized axe to cut, and placed it over the flames. Ten minutes +later, when the frost was driven from it, he cut a number of slices, +thrust his cleaning rod through them, and poised the rod upon a couple +of forked sticks above the fire. As for the remainder of the piece of +flesh, it was quickly frozen solid; for by this time the moon was up +and the cold was intense. + +"It aer nice to have a fire, and a hollow to sit in," admitted Hank, +who, as a rule, seemed to be absolutely unaffected by extremes of +temperature. Joe had, in fact, seen the little man cool and collected, +and not inconvenienced in the slightest, even when working on the +hottest day, with a swarm of mosquitoes about him; while the icy breath +of this winter had passed unnoticed. "We aer in fer a cold time," said +the little hunter, staring into the embers, "and seems to me that that +'ere wall aer wanted fer another reason besides fer keeping them skunks +out. It'll make us as warm inside here as ef we was tucked in our +blankets on the cosiest feather bed you ever thought of." + +"While these men outside will freeze," added Joe. + +"Not they!" came the instant answer. "Them critters is used to life up +here. Wouldn't wonder ef they was 'way up by James Bay most winter +times, and there the cold aer wuss perhaps. They've enlarged our +shelter already, and likely as not they've built a fire right inside. +As soon as they've had a meal they'll turn right in, and the dogs along +with 'em. That'll send up the warmth and keep an Arctic cold out. But +it's ten chances to one as they'll try to rush us before the morning. +Now ef them steaks is done we'll tackle them, and then get to at +building." + +There was a delightful odour of cooking about the little island, the +overhanging branches of the evergreen pines seeming to hem it in. +Joe's mouth was watering before he declared that the meal was ready, +and then, having handed a slice to each of his friends, together with a +species of damper cake made from flour and water toasted on the embers, +he fell upon the food himself with a gusto that told how fear had no +place with him. A pipe completed Hank's contentment, then, the moon +being now full up, and the enemy out of sight, the trio set to work to +erect the walls of their fortification. With their long-bladed knives +they cut oblong chunks of frozen snow with the same ease as one would +cut butter, and then, leaving Joe alone to do the building, sent block +after block of the material sliding to the position he had taken. + +"We'll get along quicker like that," said Hank. "It don't take more'n +a couple of seconds to lift a block into place, while it takes five +perhaps to cut one. So ef one builds, t'others'll be able to keep him +supplied." + +It was really remarkable how rapidly the wall rose. In an hour there +was a complete circle all round the rim of the island, which, being +naturally raised, gave greater height to the artificial wall. The +second row of blocks was soon added, Joe leaving spaces here and there +through which a rifle could be fired. The third and fourth and others +swiftly followed, and when four hours had gone the task was completed. +Then Hank attacked the ice with an axe which he always carried, and, +having cut through a foot and more, came upon water. A tin pot +constantly replenished supplied a means whereby the outer face of the +wall was drenched, and so fierce was the cold that the liquid congealed +almost as soon as it had fallen on the surface at which it was +projected. + +"We kin make our dummies any time now," said Hank. "Two of 'em'll be +enough, and the one who's going to take the first watch'll find they +will help to pass the time in making. It's nigh midnight now; I'll +take a spell. Joe'll relieve when three hours have gone, and Beaver +Jack later. Let's get to and make the most of the time before us." + +In a short time silence fell upon this little isolated camp. Down in +the depths of the lowest hollow, huddled in their blankets, and as warm +as toast, lay Joe and the Redskin, packed close together; for an Arctic +winter needs to be treated with consideration. No warmth that can be +retained can be allowed to escape, and as two bodies huddled close +together generate a temperature which is greater than that generated by +one, it follows that campers sleep pressed close together. We have +seen the plan put into operation elsewhere. On the high veldt in South +Africa, when nightly frosts are keen, and when tents and proper +covering are not obtainable, your campaigners soon lose all feelings of +foolish pride. Officers divide into couples and bed down beneath the +combined allowance of blankets, while we have seen as many as four of +the rank and file snug beneath their covering, snoring blissfully, +grateful for the warmth of their comrades. + +Perched above this tranquil camp, his keen eyes surveying the +surroundings with as much ease as a watchman can keep guard from a +tower built for that special purpose, Hank looked out across the +surface of the lake to the shore where the enemy was lying. His pipe +was clenched between his teeth, his hands sunk deep into his pockets, +while he himself was immovable. But every now and again the glow in +the bowl of his pipe brightened, showing that he was drawing on the +weed, while a puff of smoke issued from his lips. + +"The critters!" was a favourite exclamation with him; "Them skunks!" +another; "Ef I only knew what they was after," an oft-repeated sentence. + +"Yer see," Hank was saying to himself, "there don't seem to be any +reason in all this business; but there's something behind it all that +we can't even guess at. Somehow I can't help thinkin' that this here +Joe ha' an importance in the matter." + +What would the little hunter have given to be able to peer into the +camp of the enemy at that particular moment? He could see the glare of +a huge fire, and could imagine men and dogs sleeping together under a +shelter. But Hank was an exceedingly practical fellow, not one gifted +with an unusual stock of imagination. He could not, therefore, guess +that the number of the enemy was divided, that there was one who was a +leader. And yet that was the case. Half-breeds formed the backbone of +the party--half-breeds of the lowest character, idle vagabonds to be +found round and about the forts in the north of Canada. Not, let us +say at once, that all half-breeds are idle and worthless; by no means +is that the case. There are, of course, black sheep in every flock, +and here a number were gathered together, and at that moment huddled +fast asleep in the shelter of the lean-to which Joe and his friends had +erected. Some ten paces away a second shelter had been constructed, of +rather ample proportions, while a fire blazed at the entrance, warming +the interior. One side of this structure was filled by a sleigh, which +had been put there for a special purpose, the blankets lying upon it +showing that it was meant to serve as a couch. On this same sleigh sat +a man, a bulky fellow, muffled in furs, bearded, and almost +unrecognizable because of the skin cap drawn down over his ears. He +leaned over a wooden box which did duty for a table, and at the precise +moment when Hank was pulling at his pipe and wondering who these +enemies might be, the leader of the band of rascals had his thoughts +attracted to one at least of Hank's little party. A long envelope lay +beside him, while a document was spread out on the improvised table. +As for illumination, some was supplied by the fire, some by the clear +moon overhead, and most by a torch of birch bark, the resinous material +in which caused it to splutter and burn brilliantly. + +Let us take a look at this individual and, lifting his cap, endeavour +to recognize him. But time brings changes in all directions, and puts +its stamp on the majority of faces. Anxiety may hasten this inevitable +change, while ill health, worry, an ill-conditioned mind, grasping and +avarice are all capable of imprinting their own particular marks on the +features. In the case of the individual in question, a brutal mind was +displayed by a face that had never been handsome, and was now heavily +seamed and lined, boasting overhung brows, and a mouth which was set in +something approaching a permanent snarl. It was a face which had +changed vastly in the past few months. For this was Hurley, this was +the criminal who had so nearly killed our hero after committing murder, +and who had made his escape into the forest, bearing Joe's riches and +that all-important envelope with him. We have learned how the man was +captured, and how he made good his escape again. We recollect that Joe +had recovered his dollars, but that the envelope was still missing. +Missing? No. It was there on that improvised table. Right away in +the wilds of Canada, in the depths of an Arctic winter, it had come to +view again, though now the seal was broken. + +"To my son, Joe Bradley," the ruffian leaning over the box read aloud, +as if he had an audience, picking up the envelope and holding it +closer. "The contents of this letter will explain to you many things +which I have never cared to refer to; but I beg of you never to open it +till you are in direst need or have earned the right to do so. Make +your way in the world, gather riches--then you can open and read." + +Hurley sneered at the words. He threw the envelope down with a gesture +of impatience. "Of course the fool obeyed," he growled; "waited till +he'd come out to Canada--in fact, till it was too late. And think what +he was losing. It makes me fair chuckle. There was a home ready-made +for him in England; there was gold to fill his pockets and keep 'em +filled; and there was servants all round about, so that he needn't have +done a hand's turn. Instead the young fool comes out to Canada and +slaves on a farm. Well, some people are born idiots!" + +Evidently with the reassuring reflection that he, Hurley, was no fool, +the rascal turned to the contemplation of the document. He spread it +out smoothly, leaned his elbows on either side, and perhaps for the +hundredth time read the story enclosed, a tale, let it be remembered, +meant only for the eyes of our hero; for therein set down, by the hand +of a man now dead, was a history of importance. Hurley gloated over +the contents of this document, weighing every word within it; then he +sat back on the sleigh and gave himself up to dreaming. His savage, +careworn face took on something approaching a pleasant expression, for +Hurley's were pleasant dreams. In them he imagined himself entirely +successful. He built castles for himself in the frosty air of the +lean-to, forgetful that the best of schemes here and there come to a +sudden and disappointing ending. + +"It can be done," he said aloud; "there is nothing to prevent me, for I +have considered the plan from every side. I kill the boy; that is the +first move. I take copies of the certificate of death when I leave the +country, and when I reach Great Britain I am Bradley--Mr. Bradley, +senior. Ha!" + +A grin of triumph overspread his features, while he pushed his cap back +as if the very thought of success made him hot. Looking at Hurley at +that moment, one realized that he was one of Canada's bad bargains and +an unscrupulous ruffian. As for the tale which he had gathered from +the document which had been stolen from our hero, we will not set it +down in full, as had been done by Joe's father. Suffice it to say that +the narrative was somewhat unusual. It carried the history of two +lives back some fifty years, and told of the birth of Joe's father. +Son of a man of wealth, his mother had died soon after his appearance. +Then a stepmother had appeared upon the scene, while in due time he was +presented with a stepbrother. At that point the tale took on some +particular interest, for by the machinations of his stepmother, Joe's +father had at an early age found himself almost penniless. To be +precise, when six years of age he was banished from the establishment +and sent to live with a schoolmaster at the other end of the country. +Never once did he return home. Sums for his maintenance were +forthcoming, while he drifted unhappily from school to school. He then +found himself placed in an office, and hardly was he self-supporting +when all allowances ceased. In place he gathered the fact that his +stepbrother was now of age and had succeeded to his father's property. + +"Succeeded to every penny of it," declared Hurley aloud, "and this here +natural son done out of it. But he got to learn that he was the next +in succession. He's too hurt with all this kind of treatment, and too +proud to go back to the home. He loses himself in some provincial +town, and don't say anything. But the chap who gets all the goods +don't marry. This Bradley knows that well. Then what does he do? +Writes this here, and sends every proof he's got of his own birth and +suchlike to solicitors in London. He don't see 'em hisself. Not a +bit. He sends the documents, and encloses the receipt which was sent +for them in this letter. This here matter can be worked as easy as +eating." + +The reasoning of this rascal could be followed now with some ease, +while it is merely necessary to mention one more item in Mr. Bradley's +letter to our hero. He related that his stepbrother, realizing the +injustice done to the elder son, had, as the years passed, made efforts +to discover him. He had advertised, and put the matter in the hands of +searchers. + +"In fact, he aer anxious for this here Bradley to turn up, and it aer +clear from the letter that when he does, or his son, there's money and +a comfortable living. An heir's wanted, that's truth, and seein' as +I'm too old to act the son, and am only a trifle younger than this here +Mr. Bradley would ha' been, why, here's the heir. Hurley'll fill the +bill as well as any other." + +There was the diabolical plot in its entirety. That document just went +to show that Joe's father was a man possessed of a proud spirit and of +good ideas, for he laid it down on the outside of the envelope that he +wished his son to earn his place in the world before he opened and read +the contents. He would rather see Joe fighting his own battles than +coddling in luxury and spending the money of an uncle. He preached +independence and energy, and our hero had shown it. It was the fortune +of war, perhaps, that the document had come into the hands of such a +scoundrel, and, reviewing it and all the circumstances together, one +now saw the reason for this extraordinary and unprovoked assault upon +the little party. Hurley had gathered means by some dishonest method; +he had traced Joe's movements; and now he had rounded him up, and with +the rascals he had hired had him almost within the net. + +"To-morrow or next day, don't matter which," he told himself; "but kill +him I will, then away for England." + +For Hurley it was a fascinating conspiracy; for Joe, had he known the +ins and outs of the story, it was likely to prove more than +disconcerting. But forewarned is forearmed, and there is this to be +said for our hero. The first shots had missed him. He was now behind +cover, while two of the stanchest friends were there to protect him. + +"P'raps them critters will have had enough already and will sheer off," +said Hank, still sitting motionless on the top of the snow wall when +the watch he had been keeping came to its end. "Ef not, then it proves +as there's something deep behind all this here business. Hi, Joe! It +aer your turn now, and jest you keep movin'. It's all right fer me as +is an old hand at the game to sit tight and look about me. Young chaps +feels the cold wuss and soon gets sleepy. Move all the time, and take +a fill of 'bacca." + +It was a habit into which Joe had fallen, and with very good reason, +too, seeing the open-air life he was leading and the companions he +associated with; for your Canadian backwoodsman loves his smoke. A +short clay dangles from his teeth on most occasions. Joe therefore +roused himself swiftly from his blanket; and here again was something +more which camping had taught him, namely, to be a light sleeper. Hank +might be said to sleep always with one eye open, for he heard the +slightest movement. Beaver Jack might often enough appear to be sunk +in the deepest slumber, and yet, if one happened to peer into his face, +one discovered that both of those deep-sunk brilliant orbs were +actually twinkling. Our hero, too, would sit up with a jerk on the +smallest occasion, so that Hank's call had brought him to his feet +promptly. And now he watched the little man shake himself like a dog +and toss a blanket about him. Then Joe crammed weed into his pipe +thoughtfully, lifted a glowing ash from the fire, and puffed long +flames into the bowl. With a trail of smoke about his head, he began +to march the round of this strange fortification. + +"Hard as a brick," he told himself, running his hand along the outside +of the snowy wall. "Wouldn't turn a bullet, perhaps, but almost, I +reckon. Ah! there's the fire the enemy are burning. Jolly cheek +they've got to make use of our old camp! Wonder what they're up to? +Planning an attack for the early hours of the morning, if I ain't +mistaken." + +Joe tramped round and round, halting every few minutes to stare about +him, a comprehensive look, in fact, which took in his entire +surroundings. From his perch on the wall he could appreciate the +commanding situation. The countryside seemed to be cut off by that +wide-spreading smooth surface, with its soft covering of white snow, +unbroken in all directions save for the track which he and his friends +had made in gaining the island. The edge of the lake, where the bank +rose from the frozen water, was now so merged with the vast sheet of +ice itself, that even from the island, the best point of vantage for +observation, one could not say where ice ended and solid earth began. +Over all the wintry moon threw its own particular magnificence, bathing +the scene in brilliant rays which accentuated the pure whiteness of +everything. + +"Ripping!" Joe exclaimed. "Just fancy if we had such scenes in +England! And people grumble at a Canadian winter. I dare say there +are lots of reasons for wishing the weather were milder, for a winter +such as this is stops a heap of work. You can't sow or plough or +harrow. You can't build even a simple shack such as is wanted on the +farms. You can't ride a horse, as a general rule, while there isn't +feed for cattle. But it's glorious for all that. Give me a bright, +sunny winter's day in the Dominion." + +"You aer sure as there ain't no movement?" asked Hank, suddenly sitting +up. "Seemed to me as ef I heard a sound." + +"A dog yelped yonder," answered Joe, who was alert and taking notice of +everything. + +"A dog?" + +"Yes; there's the sound again. I think, too, that it was a different +animal." + +"Then it aer a case of all hands on deck," whispered the little +trapper, become suddenly cautious. "Ef dogs is barking, it stands to +reason that they has been disturbed. As a general rule, they'll sleep +a night like this through without moving; so, young feller, you kin +look to see them critters afore very long. I'll rouse Beaver Jack and +then get a kettle o' tea boiling. What's the hour, lad?" + +"Five o'clock or thereabouts. Ah! there's another dog, and----" + +"You kin see them skunks?" asked the little hunter. + +"No--yes! Two sleighs have just shot out from behind the trees where +we were camping last night, but I can't make out how many men are +aboard them.' + +"Wall? Aer they heading straight along here?" came the request in a +few moments, while Hank stirred the fire, and, thrusting handfuls of +snow into the wide-mouthed kettle, put the latter upon its hook above +the flames. + +"No; they've run on to the lake surface, and are making a tour round. +It appears to me as if they were hunting for an opening." + +There came a gurgle of amusement from the little hunter. He presented +a grinning face to our hero, and then climbed up beside him. + +"That 'ere wall fair bothers 'em," he laughed. "Guess when you look at +this island from 'way outside, there's jest a smooth white surface +without so much as a break. Now, where aer them critters? Ah! over +there, going along easy. I make it that there's two men aboard each +sleigh, and that this here's merely a kind of scouting. Keep well +down, me lad. We ain't goin' to help them by even a little." + +In ghostly silence the two sleighs circled round the island. They kept +at a respectful distance, then dividing, ran in opposite directions. +After some ten minutes had passed they met again, and, swerving so as +to take the same path, went off in the direction of the camp which the +enemy were occupying. It was perhaps half an hour later, when the +little garrison had fortified themselves with a steaming cup of tea, +and pipes were comfortably going, that Joe again gave a warning. + +"Coming in full force," he said. "There's four men at least on each of +the sleighs. They're making directly for the island." + +It was a true report, for when Hank and Beaver Jack joined Joe, there +were the two sleighs, their teams spread out in front, tearing along +towards the island, while each one of the rascals on the sleighs bent +down, hoping thereby to decrease the wind resistance. + +"I could plump a shot clear into 'em now," observed Hank, nursing his +rifle. "But guess it's better to give 'em what they've been axing for +from the beginning. Ef we're goin' to get out of this bother with our +scalps, as you might say, we aer got to read them critters a bad +lesson. Shootin' at them from a distance won't do it. We've got to +run the chance of 'em getting at us, and wait till they're at close +quarters." + +So they watched the two crews advance, till a sudden shout caused the +drivers to draw rein. Then eight figures leaped from the sleighs and, +dividing at once, came racing forward. + +Joe and his friends watched them quietly and with determination. +Ignorant of the cause of the attack, they were naturally incensed, +while such a thing as surrender had not occurred to them. But a +looker-on must have had serious doubts as to their success; indeed, it +may be said that their danger was great and pressing. As for the +scheme which the ruffian Hurley had originated, his chances of ridding +himself of a rival may truthfully be described as rosy. With Joe +Bradley slain in this outlandish situation, there seemed little +difficulty in carrying out the remainder of a disgraceful and cowardly +conspiracy. Hurley would present himself in England. He would demand +those documents and proof of origin. A fine fortune and position +seemed to be awaiting him. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +On the Defensive + +A strange silence had fallen upon attackers and attacked, once the +former had leaped from their sleighs and had begun to race across the +snow-covered surface of the lake. Not a sound broke from them, though +now and then there was a whimper from one of the dogs in the teams +attached to the sleighs; and neither Hank nor Joe or Beaver Jack so +much as uttered a syllable. Perhaps if they had leaped to the summit +of the wall they had built, and had shouted and thrown threats at the +enemy, it would have had the effect of spurring the latter on; for +opposition in any shape or form is apt to stimulate men to courage and +exertion, but silence depresses. The attackers seemed to lose heart +rapidly; then, as one stopped doubtfully, his comrades slowly copied +his example. Thereupon a burly figure turned upon them angrily. + +"Forward!" he shouted almost incoherently. "Why stop here? The fools +can kill you now as easily as they could if you were closer. Forward!" + +"Give 'em a sight of the dummies we've rigged up," whispered Hank at +once. "Jest show the tops o' their heads over the wall; I'll lie here +and give 'em a shot ef they want to come closer." + +He spread himself face downward on the snow and pushed his rifle +through one of the apertures which Joe had left. Meanwhile our hero +and the Redskin each took one of the dummies which the cunning little +trapper had manufactured during his hours of watching, and slowly +raised that part which was supposed to be the head over the summit of +the wall. Crouching as low as possible themselves, they moved the +dummies slowly to and fro; for they were some three yards from one +another. At once there came a loud shout from the open, and, staring +out through the aperture, Hank saw the same burly figure which he had +observed before dashing to and fro haranguing his following; but move +them he could not. + +[Illustration: A DEFENCE AGAINST ODDS] + +"What? You won't come on?" the three defenders heard him bellow. +"Never did I meet such cowards! Look at the men we've come for. Fire!" + +They could do that even if they would not advance, and in a twinkling +the seven half-breeds had thrown themselves into all sorts of +attitudes, and were busy with their weapons. There came an irregular +volley, while the narrow, elongated bullet of the modern weapon, the +larger, squat missile of the rifle somewhat out of date, and even the +huge round leaden ball discharged by a smoothbore came hurtling about +the fort. Joe heard again the zip-zip of rapidly-travelling bodies +cutting their way through a maze of branches, he felt the hail of +debris as it fell, while within a foot or more of his head he listened +to the dull thud of a bullet striking the hard-frozen wall, and heard +the queer ripping sound it made as it forced a way through and sped on +across the fort to the far wall. Then there was a pause, during which +there was deathly silence. + +"I ain't in no hurry to fire," said Hank, in low tones, grinning up at +his companions, "and I'll tell you for why. Shouts and firing and +sichlike would make them critters come on; silence gives 'em the hump. +In any case, they ain't bustin' with pluck, and never did I see men +show less dash when attackin'. Say, Joe, ain't I heard that voice +before? Seems as ef I ought to know it." + +Before he could receive an answer, the burly man was again addressing +his men, strutting up and down before them; for though his orders had +been that they should divide and approach the island from every point +of the compass, the half-breeds lacking courage had held together, as +if the companionship of their fellows helped to hearten them. + +"Forward!" Joe heard the command given. "You can see where they are +now. They've rigged up a wall, and any one of us can hop over it in a +twinkling. Now, all together!" + +But his orders went unheeded. Instead, a second volley spluttered down +the irregular line, while once again a variety of shots swept against +the fort. Joe could see Beaver Jack's penetrating eyes twinkling. He +even fancied there was a smile on those lips which were always so +impassive. In any case, the Redskin pointed overhead to the dummy he +held and nodded. + +"Fine shooting," he murmured. "Send bullet right through the head; +glad Beaver Jack not up there." + +Then Hank repeated his question. + +"Queer, ain't it, Joe? I'd swear I'd met that chap before. But----" + +"I believe--" began our hero doubtfully, "but it can't be." + +"Can't be? There's nothing that can't be 'way out here after what's +happened. I tell you, man and boy I've tracked the backwoods, and +never once have I been set on like this. I've heard o' ructions, in +course, but always near the forts and stations, or in the settlements. +But right out in the wilds like this--never! I'll eat my boots ef +these here critters ain't been set on us. Seems to me that ef we could +get a hold on that big chap as seems to lead 'em, and could make him +talk, there's a heap he could tell us. Who is he, anyway?" + +"Hurley!" exclaimed Joe. + +"Eh? What? Hurley? That durned murderer! Shucks, lad, that's too +tall for anything!" + +"I'm dead sure. Hurley's tall; Hurley's a big man; Hurley's voice is +the same as that." + +"But--" interrupted Hank hoarsely, keeping his eyes all the while on +the enemy, "but, grant you the voice is the same--now that you've said +it, I 'low that that aer Hurley's voice--he'd be mad to follow like +this. There's a string always round his neck, and he ain't likely to +come close to the men who know it. It ain't reasonable. Why, we could +hang the scoundrel any day we set hands on him!" + +"True enough," agreed Joe, "but--wait, they're moving. That rascal is +getting them to their feet; we'd better be ready for trouble." + +Joe had managed to squat down close to one of the openings, and as he +conversed with Hank had wriggled himself into a position which enabled +him to look out. Everything outside on the moonlit snow was visible. +Indeed, the white background showed up every detail, though, as it +happened that the enemy had their backs to the moon, their features +were indistinguishable. But features are of no account when bullets +are flying, or when an attack is about to be launched. The enemy had +gathered into a bunch, in spite of the shouts of their leader, and now, +fortified by even closer companionship, and goaded by the burly brute +who stood at their head, they poured in another volley, then, trailing +their weapons, dashed toward the fort. Joe jerked his dummy on to the +top of the wall and left it there; then his hand sought for his rifle, +and in a trice he had the muzzle grinning at the enemy. He jerked back +the bolt--for he always kept the weapon at safety--took a rapid aim at +one of the charging figures, and pulled the trigger. To his amazement, +the man at whom he aimed doubled up into a neat round ball and, +tumbling on the snow, rolled rapidly forward. But it was not for long. +He straightened himself suddenly, stood erect, and then threw his arms +overhead. A penetrating shriek came from him, and a moment later he +bounded into the air and fell face downward. Hank's rifle spat forth a +bullet in the interval and sent a second man rocking from side to side. +Long before Beaver Jack could get to one of the apertures, or Hank push +in a fresh cartridge, the enemy were in wild retreat, separating widely +and racing away as fast as their snowshoes would take them. As for +Joe, numbed fingers do not readily operate the bolt of even a modern +weapon, while, for the same reason, cartridges are hard to grip; so +that he had not even reloaded. But numbed fingers were not the only +reason for such delay; he was watching the man at whom he had fired. A +feeling of elation possessed him for one brief second as the rascal +doubled up and rolled forward, and then one of terror, of keen remorse. + +"I--I killed him," he cried, a waver in his voice. + +Hank looked up quickly, his lips moving. + +"Eh?" he asked shortly. + +"I killed him," declared Joe again, almost plaintively. + +"Ah, so you did, young 'un, and a mighty fine shot it war. But you +ain't going to tell me that you're sorry? In course in a way one is +sorry when one wipes a critter out, but----" + +"It's awful!" groaned Joe, huge depression upon him. + +Hank scrambled to his feet, dragged our hero to his, and took him away +from the wall where the moon's rays fell brightly upon both of them. + +"See here," he cried angrily, though those who knew the little man best +would have declared that his anger was artificial, "see here, young +feller; am I less valuable to you than that 'ere cuss? Eh? You ain't +got an answer. You don't seem to reckon that ef you wasn't to shoot, +the critter would come right in and kill me or you. Ef it's like that, +and you value him higher, why, I'm for moving." + +Very slowly he began to clamber on to the top of the wall. He dropped +his legs over to the far side, and seemed to be in the act of departing +from the fort. Then Joe came to his senses; he caught the little +trapper by the fringed sleeve and dragged him back. Indeed, using his +strength and height, he gripped the little man and lifted him bodily. +He was smiling when Hank at length broke free. + +"It's over," he said; "I'm sorry." + +"No harm done, lad," came the hearty answer. "No one was ever the wuss +for havin' a soft heart. But this here aer war, war to the knife, and, +what's more, that aer Hurley. Would a skunk same as him leave us alive +ef the call was with him? Huh!" + +That was the most expressive sound he could make. It betokened the +utmost scorn; it showed Hank when most emphatic. + +"It aer Hurley, fer sure," he declared. "But why? Aer he mad?" + +"Not mad, but hoping to make something out of us or out of me," said +Joe. "At least that is the idea I have, though it seems to be stupid, +and there is no apparent reason for my saying so. But what does it +matter what the cause of the attack may be? It's Hurley." + +"Dead sartin--the skunk!" growled Hank. + +"And he means business." + +"He aer goin' to wipe the hull lot of us out ef he's able. But he aer +come up agin a crowd that's got its dander up, so I tells him. He aer +yet to larn what backwoods chaps and others kin do. Next time I makes +a particular point o' puttin' my sights on him, and ef I get the +chance, I'll roll him over. Let's see what they're doing." + +For the next ten minutes the trio sat on the summit of the wall in the +full glare of the moonlight, for there was now no object in +concealment, and watched the enemy. They had retired as far as their +sleighs, and it looked for a little while as if they were about to +mount and drive away. But the burly figure of the rascal who led +them--now admittedly Hurley, the murderer, the escaped +criminal--tramped up and down near them, and though only a faint +whisper of his voice could be heard every now and again, when the wind +bore it in the direction of the island, it was perfectly evident that +he was again using all his persuasive eloquence to induce his followers +to repeat the attack. They saw him swing round more than once and +point towards the fort. They watched as the enemy actually advanced +again; but a shot from Hank surging between them seemed to put their +courage to flight, for they went again to the sledges. Then there was +a different scene. + +"Threatening them," remarked Joe. "Hurley is shaking his fist at us, +and pointing his gun at his own people. I begin to believe that we +shall win out all right. Say, Hank, how many men can go on a sleigh as +a rule?" + +"Depends on the teams, lad. Some'll have only a small team, and then +one man are a load; some'll take four, same as those, and move sharpish +over the snow. Then agin, it depends a heap on the ground. Ef it's +smooth and level, the work aer easy; ef there's a hill, folks has to +dismount; and ef there's a thaw--shucks! you can't get along nohow." + +"But just now, after the 'silver thaw' we've had, the snow is +beautifully hard, and if those beggars went the opposite way, the way +we'd go if we were making back towards the Fennicks, they'd move." + +"Fly," came crisply from the hunter. "It aer a trifle downhill, and +since this keen frost set in, the snow aer hard and smooth. Yes, +they'd fly. But don't you reckon on that; Hurley'll work them +half-breeds up to attack again. They'll wait perhaps till morning, or +till it's darker. It'll be that any time now, and I ain't so certain +that we ain't in for a little snow. It won't be much, anyway, for +there's only a few clouds about; but the wind's got up a little, and +clouds have come into sight that wasn't there when we came to the +island." + +"Ah!" Joe gave vent to the short expression in such a tone of voice +that Hank stared at him. It was just as if he had said "Thanks +awfully; you've just given me the information I wanted." + +"What's that?" demanded the hunter. + +"Nothing," answered Joe briskly. + +"You ain't goin' to flummox me! You was thinkin' something jest then; +you're up to some game and ain't let on yet." + +The little fellow was gifted with wonderful intelligence, and picked up +Joe's unspoken thoughts with the same intuition with which he would +have ferreted out the tracks of an enemy, or guessed at their possible +movements. He shook Joe angrily, staring into his face. + +"What aer it?" he demanded. "This ain't the time for playing games. +But I guess you've something at the back of that head of yours. Now, +I've caught you out---what's the move?" + +Joe told him in a very few words; for he had of a sudden come to the +determination to move against the enemy. + +"I'm going to do a little bit of scouting, Hank," he said. "I'm going +across to their camp to see what's happening. What I want to know is +this: will those dogs they have set up a racket and fly at me?" + +"You bet! In course they will. Only there's snow everywhere now, and +ef you're careful--and I've larned ye to be--then you'd be able to +manage without rousing the critters." + +"And if I took a hunk of meat with me I might manage to quiet them in +any case, eh?" asked our hero. + +"Might, mightn't; can't say. Jest a toss up--what then?" + +"That's telling," smiled Joe. "But you and Beaver Jack be ready. If +you see a sleigh coming along quick, with one man aboard it, put it +down that it's me. I'm going to make a move to get possession of one +of them, and once I have got it, why, we'll make tracks for the +Fennicks." + +The little hunter regarded his pupil in open-mouthed amazement. He +stepped a pace away, held Joe at arm's length, then brought one hand +with a bang down on to his shoulder; only, as this young friend of his +had grown so prodigiously of late, Hank had to stand on tiptoe. + +"Of all the mad ideas that ever was, this is it!" he cried. "But it +aer fine, and I'll say more, it aer the only way to pull us out of this +business, mad though it does appear. Ef you hadn't wanted to go, I'd +have gone. But you suggested, and so you shall make the attempt. And +ef they spot you, jest run for your life out on to the lake. Beaver +Jack and me'll follow you across and build up a bit of a breastwork +close by the shore. That'll give us a sorter place to hold 'em from, +and there you could join us. If you succeed, why, off we goes, in +course; and, now that I thinks of it more, ef you ain't too proud, I'd +like to come with you. Why? I'll tell you. The dogs are bound to be +a bother. You ain't never handled the critters, while I have, many a +time, and dogs, like hosses, soon gets to know when they're dealing +with a green 'un. How's that?" + +"Agreed!" cried Joe, delighted to have a companion. "Ask Jack what he +thinks of the affair." + +Half an hour later there was quite a stir amongst the garrison of the +island, for the enemy had disappeared, having returned downheartened to +their own encampment. Beaver Jack and Joe were bearing along between +them the light sleigh upon which the Redskin's pelts were stacked, and +on which their own traps would find a place. They lifted it to the top +of the wall they had built and, leaping to the outside, lowered it +carefully. Hank then handed down rifles and ammunition, the former of +which they slung over their shoulders. + +"If the wust comes to the wust, we makes back here agin," he said. "It +aer been a proper tight little island; now we kin move. Them clouds +has smothered the moon nicely, and it aer snowing enough to hide a man +at fifty yards. Guess we'll cross, throw up a wall of snow, making a +sorter nest in case we want it, and then get away on to the camp them +half-breeds is occupying." + +He took the end of the tow-rope, while Beaver Jack went immediately +behind him. Joe fell in in rear, and in that order they strode on +across the snow towards the shore which harboured the enemy. They +halted once to listen, for a dog had yelped. But as the sound was not +repeated, they pressed on again, and were soon at the point where ice +and solid earth met beneath the all-pervading mantle of snow. + +"This'll do," said Hank shortly. "Slip off yer snowshoes and rake the +snow up from a central point; that'll leave a deep little hole to +shelter us. See here, Beaver Jack, you keep a bright eye open for us. +Ef we comes bowling along on a sleigh, get a hold of that sleigh rope +of yours, leap aboard us, and make fast. Ef we comes runnin' out, jest +see that you shoot at them critters who'll be follerin' and not at us." + +That was his farewell to the Redskin. He and Joe helped to erect the +wall of snow, and then, leaving Beaver Jack to complete the task, +strode on again towards the camp which they had vacated for the benefit +of the enemy. Under one arm the little hunter carried a ball of snow, +which seemed somewhat curious and unnecessary, especially considering +the fact that the ground was thickly covered with the same material. +But within the snow there was something of greater value. + +"It's that chunk o' meat," Hank had explained, when he first produced +his burden. "I set it over the fire till it was wellnigh cooked and +the frost driven out of it altogether. Then I cut it into pieces, +packed them close in a piece of skin from one o' the beasts we shot, +and wrapped the whole again in snow, which'll help to keep the heat in +and the cold out. Sounds rummy, don't it? But it'll work handsome." + +"Now, young chap," he whispered, when he and our hero had parted from +the Redskin and were within three hundred yards of the enemy, "we've +got to decide how we'll work this business. How's it to be?" + +"You take the dogs," said Joe at once. "I'll tackle Hurley." + +"But--but you ain't going to kick up a rumpus with him, surely!" +exclaimed Hank, sinking his voice till it was almost inaudible, and +almost hissing the words. "It aer the sleigh we want, two of 'em ef we +could manage it, though that ain't possible. Ef we get away with one, +only four of the critters can follow, and what's four after so many? +You ain't after Hurley?" + +He was answered by a vigorous shake of the head. "No, I don't want any +struggle; I wouldn't shoot the fellow if I had the opportunity." + +"Wouldn't ye? Then I would, me lad. It aer human nature to look to +number one fust. When a man murders, and aer wanted by the hangman, +when he begins trying his best to murder others, then's the time fer +him to go under. Hurley has my bullet fust time I kin look straight +along the barrel. But what aer you after?" + +"I don't know. I want to see what he's doing. I want to find out if +he has that envelope he stole from me so many months ago now." + +Hank's head shot up quickly. He was a man with such a vast experience +of life, and had encountered so many strange happenings, that he was +not inclined to think a thing impossible till he had proved it to be +so. There was that envelope, to be sure. Joe had often spoken about +it. He had told Hank the whole story, how there was something within +the envelope which he could have read had he chosen, though against his +dead father's wishes. The contents, in fact, were for perusal only +when he had made good, when he had fought his own battles. And Hank +had been impressed by the recital. + +"It aer a queer story," he had said in his quiet little way, "and I +'low as the temptation to open that envelope must have been great. But +your dad war right. Supposing the letter told you of dollars to be had +for the axing, what would have happened? You'd have stayed back there +in England. You'd have lived on the best of the land and become fat +and lousy. You wouldn't have had half the fun out of life, for the +struggle to make good aer fun to everyone who's got spirit and pride. +'Sides, there's something wuss. This here Hank wouldn't have made your +acquaintance. + +"Supposing that letter had had something to do with monetary affairs?" +The little hunter came to a halt promptly and stared before him. He +would have whistled but for the proximity of the enemy. Instead, he +turned on Joe, and with the snowflakes falling about them gripped him +firmly by the sleeve. "By Jingo," he whispered, "I believe you've got +it! That there Hurley stole the letter. When he was captured he hid +it up, for he'd had time to take a look at it. Perhaps he forgot to +hide the dollar notes. But in any case, he put the letter away in some +safe place, perhaps in the shack close to that lake where he went into +hiding. He'd larned that there was gain to be made by it, ef only he +could get clear of the law. Wall, he slipped off. Those police let +him out of their fingers. He went back for the letter, and then, +because you've something to do with it, as of course is sartin, he sets +out to find and wipe you out. Huh! It's all in a nutshell. You ain't +wanted, young chap. Soon as you're wiped out, Hurley comes in for +something that's waiting." + +Perhaps it was native sagacity again, a strange mixture of intuition +and intelligence, which helped the little hunter. Perhaps also, taking +every point into consideration, it was the most reasonable solution to +come to. Be that as it may, Hank at one effort had fathomed the +mystery of this unprovoked attack, and at the same time had discovered +that Joe was most probably rather an important person. + +"But you ain't got the dollars yet, not by a long way," he cautioned. +"We ain't got out of this muss, and Hurley'll do his best to hold us. +Now, lad, you aer after that envelope. Wall, see here. Ef it's to be +had easy, take it; ef not, leave the thing till another time. For ef +we clear out of this with our scalps we'll ride for the nearest fort +garrisoned by the North-west Police, or some station where there's +Ontario Police quartered. We'll inform about Hurley, and we'll lead a +party along till the rascal's taken. Life, I guess, aer more valuable +than a letter; so bear that in mind, and hold off ef there's danger." + +With their plans thus arranged, the two crept forward, and were soon +within some fifty yards of the camp. Through the falling snowflakes +they could see the large lean-to in which the half-breeds were +sleeping, for the band of desperadoes had thrown themselves down +immediately on returning. The fire at the entrance burned low, and the +light it gave out was feeble. But more issued from a second, blazing +some yards to the left, and illuminating the interior of the other +lean-to. + +"The men!" whispered Hank, pointing to the first. "That 'ere critter +yonder! It aer up to us now to locate the dogs. H-hish! Here's one +o' them coming." + +Joe saw him tear his bundle asunder and extract a piece of flesh. At +the same moment he became aware of the fact that a huge beast was +slowly crawling toward them. + +"Was it actually a dog? No. Yes; that was certain. Then would it +suddenly give tongue and fling itself upon them?" + +"H-h-hish!" said Hank, making a curious little clicking sound with his +tongue. "He's smelt the meat; ef only he'll be quiet, we'll soon have +the others." + +A low, almost inaudible growl came from the brute advancing on them. +Even in that light Joe could see that its coat was bristling. It was +slinking toward them now on half-bent legs, looking as if it would make +a sudden spring when within easy reach of them. The position of the +two might be described, in fact, as more than a trifle embarrassing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Across the Snows for Safety + +"Hist! Hist! Here, good dog!" Hank called gently to the huge brute +slinking towards himself and Joe, as they lay outside the winter +bivouacs of Hurley and his men, and held forward a tempting morsel of +flesh. Even our hero could scent the pleasing aroma from the morsel; +for the little hunter had so contrived with his covering of snow that +there was considerable warmth in it yet, while the frosty air seemed to +accentuate the aroma. But it was a toss up as to whether the beast +would suddenly give tongue or would slink still nearer and accept the +proffered dainty. + +"Good dog!" called Hank again. "Here's summat for yer." + +Perhaps his soothing voice had something to do with the matter. It may +have been even that the brute realized, as dumb brutes do, that he was +face to face with one well acquainted with his brethren. Suffice it to +say that his bristles subsided and he sidled up, wagging his tail, his +nose snuffing at the morsel. Hank patted him at once. + +"Here's more o' that," he said. "Lie down! Now, where aer the others? +It aer more'n likely that they've gone in with the men, and ef that's +the case it'll be a job to get 'em out, to say nothing of puttin' the +harness on 'em. See here, lad; I'll stay with this brute, so's to +quiet the others ef they come out. You creep in a bit closer and scout +around; I ain't yet quite sure how things aer. Take a piece of the +meat with you, and ef a dog runs out, jest pitch it towards him." + +It may be imagined that Joe needed no further orders. He was on hands +and knees at once, and began to creep towards the lean-to. In a little +while he was within a dozen feet, and, wriggling his way into a +position of advantage, he was soon able to look right in, the firelight +helping him greatly. A jumbled heap of bodies, legs, and arms met his +eyes, with the sleeping forms of dogs inextricably mixed up with them. +He saw, in fact, a typical residence of the half-breed. These men, of +a degenerate class themselves, and careless of everything so long as +their own comfort was assured, had turned into their lean-to without +removing so much as a garment, which is not to be wondered at, +considering the cold, and, throwing themselves down higgledy-piggledy, +had called to the dogs, who had promptly accepted the invitation, and, +thrusting their way into any odd corner and the most comfortable nooks, +had settled themselves down to sleep till the call of a new day aroused +them. But there was something more which attracted Joe's attention. +There seemed to be so few dogs, perhaps half a dozen in all, while each +of the sleigh teams mustered nine or ten. + +"Couldn't swear to the number," he told himself, "but there are not two +teams here, of that I am certain. Where, then, are the others?" + +Looking to right and to left gave him no help. It was clear that he +must search for them elsewhere, so promptly he crept away in the +direction of the second lean-to. It happened, too, that his path took +him to the end of this farthest removed from the spot where the fire +was blazing. Indeed, it was only native caution which caused him to +make for that end; for had he crawled towards the fire, its bright +flames would have betrayed his presence instantly to anyone happening +to look out. Hurley, he knew, was a suspicious, restless individual, +so that the merest whimper from one of the dogs, even a rustling of the +snow, might bring him into the open. + +"I'll give him no chance to spoil our plans," said Joe, kneeling up to +take a good look about him. "First thing is to take a squint into the +lean-to. There's a light somewhere inside, I fancy, so perhaps Hurley +is sitting up and making plans for the next attack. Hope he ain't, +though; I'd rather he were asleep, worn out by all that's happened." + +Crawling along on hands and knees, it was a little time before he came +to the lean-to. A glance over his shoulder now told him that Hank had +come a trifle closer, and still had the dog beside him. Knowing, +therefore, that he had someone to give him a warning should the +half-breeds suddenly emerge, Joe very gently separated two strips of +birch bark which closed in a portion of this Canadian dwelling. Then +he applied his eye to the aperture, only to find that he was staring +right across to the far side of the lean-to, and that neither Hurley +nor anyone else was within his vision. There was a roll of flaming +bark within two feet, however, spluttering and smoking gently. + +"No good here," he thought. "Must try the other side, and a trifle +lower down. Hallo--dogs! George--they're lying just outside this +shanty!" + +Joe had risen to his feet now, though still stooping, and as he peered +over the far end of the flimsy erection he caught sight of quite a +number of dogs stretched within easy distance of the fire, huddled into +one close body, and all fast asleep. After all, there was nothing +remarkable in that, or of sufficient importance to cause his +exclamations, save, of course, their proximity to himself. For these +dogs, bred in the Arctic zone almost, and in any case upon its fringe, +can stand a degree of cold which would rapidly kill a human being. +Warmth they like, just as do most animals, but they can resist a +Canadian winter in remarkable manner, and are capable of sleeping in +the open. In any case, there they were, bundled together, sleeping +deeply, no doubt tired after a hard day with the sleigh. + +"But they'll rouse any time," Joe told himself. "If there weren't snow +about to deaden my steps, they'd have kicked up a row already, unless, +of course, they take me for one of their masters." + +Perhaps that was the reason of their tranquillity. Satisfied that they +had not detected him yet, Joe crept round to the far side of the +lean-to and, boring another aperture, peered in. And on this occasion +his efforts won a greater reward; for Hurley lay before him. His bulky +form was stretched full length on one of the sleighs, his face turned +away from the light; a rifle was propped beside him, while close +against the sleigh was that same wooden box which we have already +described. For the rest, there was nothing more to comment on. +Travellers during a Canadian winter are few and far between--we speak +here of the backwoods--and such as there are carry merely necessaries, +so that a humble lean-to contains little else but the traveller. There +was Hurley, in fact, alone, and with a weapon beside him. The box was +of no consequence, though, if only Joe could have guessed that only a +few hours ago that precious document was spread out on it, it is likely +enough that he would have shown more excitement. But there was no sign +of the envelope. Doubtless the sleeping Hurley had it in an inner +pocket. Joe bore in mind Hank's warning, and promptly used all his +wits to bring about an escape from the ruffian. + +"Can't bother about the document or letter," he told himself. "We'll +tackle the man; but how, is the question? It's clear that he has +hauled the sleigh in to make a bed, leaving the dogs still attached to +it. That would be fine for us, if it weren't for the fact that Hurley +has fallen asleep on it. Then there's the gun; fancy I can reach that, +anyway." + +He stretched the opening a little wider, stood well above it, and +reached in. + +"Can't!" he told himself, with an exclamation of vexation. "Try again." + +This time the roof of the lean-to bent inward as he pressed upon it, +then his fingers hit upon the muzzle of the weapon. Joe gripped it +firmly, drew gently on it, and slowly extracted the gun through the +opening. + +"Makes things easier a whole heap. When he wakes he'll have to look +about for another weapon, unless he's got----" He pulled at the +opening and again stared in at the sleeper. "No sign of a shooter. +Hooray! Things begin to look a little better. I'll get hold of Hank +and have a chat with him." + +Within three minutes the two had retired a little and were discussing +matters in voices raised hardly above a whisper. Hank kneeled on the +snow, one arm about the dog he had coaxed into friendship, and who +seemed to have taken a huge fancy to him. The little man listened +carefully to our hero's description, and made no comment for a few +moments; then, of a sudden, a gurgling laugh came from some point deep +down in his throat. + +"Ef we don't win out I ain't Hank," he smiled. "Now, jest listen. +This aer the movement; Jimmy here--that's this dog, and I christened +him Jimmy 'cos that's the name of a beast I had once when huntin' in +the backwoods--Jimmy goes along up to his friends sleeping outside the +lean-to and wakes 'em. He lets 'em understand that things are right, +and that there's a new friend come to the camp. You needn't look as ef +you didn't believe it could be, young chap. You've got to remember +that there's a moon. Ef it were pitch dark it would be different, for +then the dogs couldn't see us. A beast barks at any sound on a dark +night, while with a moon, ef he kin see right off what's caused the +ruction, he don't always give tongue. Anyway, we try the plan. Ef it +fails, we'll have to make a rush at the brutes, put 'em into line, and +drive 'em. But here's the rest of the scheme. This is your part." + +"Ah! What? I'm ready." + +"In course you aer; couldn't I tell that from what you've done this +last five minutes?" + +"Well," said Joe impatiently, "you look to the dogs. That's right, for +you know a heap about them. What do I do?" + +"Settle Hurley." + +"Eh? Kill him? I----" + +"You don't need to be thin-skinned, young chap. This ain't a time fer +killing; I'll do that fast enough ef it comes to a tussle between us. +What you've got to do is to rouse him off the sleigh, and then smother +him so's he can't get clear of the lean-to till we've got aboard and +has set the dogs going. Jest sling that 'ere rifle into the bushes +here. Gently with it. Now you ain't bothered with extry weight. You +comes with me to the place agin and watches while I get in amongst the +dogs. Ef there's a noise, and Hurley rouses, bash the lean-to down on +top of his head, jump on it, send the sticks and the snow about him, +then leap on the sleigh and look out fer fireworks." + +Joe grinned; he couldn't help doing so, in spite of the danger of the +situation. "If there's not a row?" he asked. + +"Ef there's not a ruction with them dogs and the other men, and things +go nice and smooth and easy, I'll lift my hand when I'm ready. Then +you get a grip of that thar Hurley, bash him over the head ef you like +with your open hand, and, as he rises, bring the whole shanty down on +him--eh? You're there, ain't you? It aer a clear and straightforward +plan." + +"Got it," answered Joe promptly, moistening his lips, and tingling with +excitement and anticipation. "Do we start now?" + +"This very instant. But supposin' Hurley suddenly rouses as soon as we +get close, and afore you kin bring the shack down on him----" + +"Leave that to me," answered Joe tersely. "I've had one innings with +the ruffian already." + +There never were two who understood each other so well and so easily as +did Hank and our hero. Their discussion had taken them but a few bare +seconds, and now they were creeping back. Joe halted when close beside +the lean-to, while the little hunter sat down on his knees and +whispered to the dog Jimmy. The hound seemed to have gathered his +meaning too as rapidly as had Joe, for he went slinking forward and lay +down beside his comrades. As might have been expected, his coming +caused many of the beasts to open their eyes, though they did not offer +to move. But Hank was watching eagerly, and a second later a morsel of +flesh flew across, landing close to Jimmy. Others followed, and in an +incredibly short space of time the dogs were all aroused and standing. + +"Jest watch fer the signal," whispered the hunter. "I'm agoin' to put +'em into their harness." + +It was just at that moment that Joe heard a movement within the +lean-to, and promptly applied his eye to the opening he had made. +Hurley had turned over, and was now blinking at the spluttering torch, +while one arm was spread out over the box. Something seemed to have +alarmed him, for he sat up, giving the box a kick, which Hank heard; +then he got to his feet swiftly and, bending low, stepped toward the +opening, just outside which blazed the fire, and just beyond which Hank +was mustering the team of dogs. Hurley saw him; for the instant he +took him to be one of his own following, then he became suspicious. + +"Who's that?" he called. "Hi! Someone is tampering with the dogs." + +Joe did not venture to wait longer. He leaped on to the top of the +lean-to, the flimsy thing breaking down beneath his weight at once; he +trod upon the wretch beneath, sending him tumbling to the ground; then +he stood ready for the next movement. It came with startling +suddenness. Hank had found a whip close to the dogs, and sent it +cracking over the team. The brutes sprang forward the next instant, +and in spite of the fact that Hurley had tumbled across the sleigh, +they brought it out from beneath the smashed lean-to with a jerk which +tossed snow and sticks aside, and sent the rascally leader of this band +of cut-throats rolling backward from the end. Hank seemed to fly to +his position at the fore end. Joe fell across the sleigh as it flashed +past him, scrambled aboard, and found himself gripping the sides +closely; for a sleigh is no easy thing to ride when a strong team pulls +it at fast pace across ground which is broken. It jolts and sways +abominably, while often enough it will glissade, just like a petrol car +rounding a sharp and greasy corner. + +"Hold tight," shouted Hank, "and get yer shootin' iron ready for 'em! +When we comes up to Beaver Jack, I'll hand the reins over to him. +You'll take the centre place, while I'll nip in at the back, so as to +be ready to shoot that 'ere Hurley." + +Not a word passed between the two from that moment until they reached +the spot where Beaver Jack was waiting for them. Swinging along at a +glorious pace, and swerving and rolling, sometimes dangerously, they +finally dashed up to the heap of snow behind which the Redskin had +taken shelter. + +"Now, Jack, you take them dogs," said Hank quickly. "Give me a hold of +the rope tied on to your sleigh. There! It's fast to this; you kin +move off when you're ready." + +"But----" + +"What?" asked the hunter somewhat curtly, interrupting Joe. + +"Why let the dogs haul two sleighs? Cut Beaver Jack's pelts adrift and +tie 'em here. We can do it as we go. Our traps can be served in the +same way. It isn't the weight that'll tell so much as the amount of +ground our runners cover. A sleigh towing behind will hold the dogs +more than the load on it will do when added to this sleigh." + +"Shucks! You aer got the best head of the three of us," cried Hank. +"You git in at them dogs, Beaver Jack. Me and Joe'll fix the kit while +we're moving." + +Away went the lash of the whip cracking over the leaders. Beaver Jack +handled the team as a man does who has had great practice. Anyone +could have said that from merely observing his manner of wielding the +whip, for the short-handled, long-lashed dog whip employed in the north +of Canada is apt to be more dangerous to the amateur wielder than to +the dogs. It requires an amount of practice to control it; and as it +twirled and cracked, and leaped backwards and forwards, now over the +dogs, and then above the heads of Hank and Joe, there was proof +positive of Beaver Jack's previous acquaintance with it. Meanwhile, +Hank had drawn up the smaller sleigh alongside, and he and Joe rapidly +transferred its load to the large one on which they themselves sat, +lashing every article into position. + +At the enemy's camp there was now huge commotion. At first the +confusion had been so great that no one could guess what had happened. +Even Hurley himself had little more than an inkling, and it took him a +few seconds to pick himself up and free himself of the snow and debris +of the lean-to with which he had been covered. Then shouts of rage and +fierce orders burst from his lips; in his anger he dashed hither and +thither, shouting at his men, and even striking those who seemed to be +dawdling. + +"Put the other team into the sleigh, quick!" he commanded. "One of you +help here to find my rifle. Those men have made a sneaking night +attack, and will get clear off if we don't move quick. Here, look for +my rifle, I say. How in thunder did it get outside the lean-to?" + +There were quite a number of little matters which he was likely to find +difficult of explanation. But the gun was found eventually where Joe +had placed it, while the second team of dogs were got into their +harness. Then Hurley pressed two of the boldest of his followers into +this special service, and putting them aboard the remaining sleigh, +leaped there himself, and ordered the driver to set off in pursuit of +our hero and his friends. + +Beaver Jack never hesitated as to the course he ought to pursue once +his fingers closed on the reins Hank tossed him. + +"Clear back for the settlements," the little hunter had said, and the +Redskin obeyed him to the letter. He steered his team over a portion +of the lake, set them at the bank where it shelved very gradually to +the ice, and, gaining a hollow, aimed directly for a huge patch of +forest distinguishable with the aid of the moon's rays in the far +distance. + +"He war born cute, he war," grunted Hank, some minutes later, when all +the loads were secured, and he and Joe had time and opportunity to look +about them. "Beaver Jack never stirs a foot, but he watches everything +about him, and I reckon that he knows nigh every foot of the country; +knows it, too, whether it's fine weather or ef there's snow about and +landmarks is wiped out altogether. He aer steering downhill, knowing +as the big lake back behind drains along the valley to another, and +that again to a third. It means quick travelling all the way, and ef +we're to shake off them critters it'll be before we reaches the third +lake. Ah! Guess that's Hurley. It's a pity it's stopped snowing." + +It was necessary to cling to the sleigh tightly, for the going was fast +and furious. There was no time to watch for obstacles ahead, while the +snow covered the land so completely that deep brooks crossing their +line of flight were not seen till they were on to them, and then there +was a mighty shaking. The dogs, spurred on by the cracking whip, +leaped across the hollow. The sleigh bumped across with a great +jolting which tossed those aboard it to either side; but still they +clung tight, while the little hunter, seeing that a sleigh was +following, nimbly turned about, spread himself face downward on the top +of the sleigh, and placed his rifle before him. + +"You jest take and sit on my legs, Joe," he called; "then ef there's a +bad jolt I'll still be here. It won't make no difference to my +shootin', and it's likely to save delay. Ef I was to roll over you'd +have to stop, and that'd be serious." + +Joe promptly did as he was asked, tucking the legs of the little hunter +beneath him, and placing a blanket across them before he sat down. He +could then afford to turn his own head and watch the enemy. Away +behind them, tearing along at reckless speed, and at such a rate that a +cloud of white was thrown up in front of each runner for all the world +as if the sleigh were a ship at sea, Hurley and his comrades came +chasing after the trio they had fondly hoped to kill. A figure +crouched just behind the dogs, and the frosty air brought the sound of +his shouts and the crack of the dog whip he wielded. A second figure +was bundled up behind him, the face of the man on the shoulder of the +driver, while a pair of staring eyes peered at the sleigh ahead. +Hurley sat right aft, his bulky form overlapping the sides of the +sleigh, his head and shoulders well above his comrades. The moon, +playing upon the scene, showed a rod projecting upward from a point +just in front of the murderer, and at once Joe knew it was a rifle. He +saw the ruffian lean forward and shout at his men, and then watched as +he rose still higher--evidently he was half-kneeling and +half-sitting--his weapon was lifted into a horizontal position and went +to his shoulder. It was clear, in fact, that Hurley was about to fire. + +"Best get down flat, every one of us," cried Hank, in warning tones. +"Beaver Jack, you lie flat same as me, facing forward. You'll still be +able to steer, and kin use the whip ef it's wanted. Then Joe kin +stretch hisself out on top of the two of us. It'll be a cramping +business, but it aer better'n bein' shot." + +Such gymnastic efforts upon a sleigh rocking from side to side was no +easy matter. But when there is a man within reasonable distance whose +rifle is presented, and any moment may bring a bullet, the most +difficult of evolutions are carried out with wonderful rapidity. In +this case, Beaver Jack swivelled himself round with a dexterity there +was no denying. Then Joe turned entirely, for he wished to have his +eyes behind him all the while and watch Hurley. A second or so later +he was also lying flat, his weight helping to hold the Redskin to the +sleigh, while he gripped Hank now by the ankles. But he was hardly in +position when a puff of smoke burst from the rifle held by the burly +figure at the back of the pursuing sleigh, there was a dull flash, then +a bullet screamed past the heads of Hank and his friends. The reply to +this was sent without delay by the little hunter. + +"Missed!" he grunted. "Shootin' at a moving object ain't never too +easy with a rifle, but when the consarn you're fixed on is movin' +itself as well, why, a hit aer often a chance. Guess Hurley ha' got +his eye in." + +It was a cold-blooded observation, hardly likely to encourage either. +But the grin on Hank's face showed that he himself was not greatly +concerned by the close approach of a second bullet which Hurley had +fired. For Joe, one can only say that he watched the duel fascinated, +fear for his own person lost in his interest. Once again he saw +Hurley's rifle lifted, saw the smoke belch from the muzzle, and then +heard--almost felt, one might say, without exaggeration--the passage of +the bullet. + +Hank chuckled. "This here lyin'-down position bothers him fine," he +cried. "He aer got to drop his muzzle a whole heap before he hits us. +But I'm not the one to give chances; I'm going to pick off that Hurley." + +Up went his own rifle, for Hank leaned on one elbow. He took a long +and careful aim and then pulled his trigger; but the result was not +what he had anticipated. As he himself had said, shooting was +extremely difficult under such circumstances, for the sleigh swayed and +jolted horribly. But the bullet missed the ruffian at whom it was +aimed only because there was another man in front of him. Of a sudden +the driver of the pursuing sleigh dropped his whip and doubled up, his +chin on his chest. Then he swayed a little, and, as if with a mighty +effort, gathered all his strength and threw himself backward, pulling +on the reins and bringing his team to a standstill. But it was his +last action. He toppled over to the left and fell into the snow. + +"Wrong man; sorry," Hank jerked out grimly. "Hurley'll have it next +time. I'll wait a bit to get him closer." + +The chase after that settled down a little, Hank holding his fire, +while Hurley himself copied the example of the little hunter and spread +himself out flat on his sleigh, his new driver also. But this was +apparent, with a lighter load the enemy were getting nearer. + +"Ef that's the case, we'll make a stop precious soon," said Hank. +"What say, Joe?" + +"I'm with you. We're three now to their two, and if we could face +eight of them some little while ago, surely we could----" + +His argument came to an abrupt ending at that moment, for a wide ditch +with vertical banks carved out by nature crossed their path, and the +snow hid it from view. It was more than likely that the snow had +formed a species of bridge over this deep hollow; but, in any case, it +broke down as the last of the team of dogs crossed, causing the front +end of the sleigh to dip suddenly. The runners cannoned against the +iron-hard banks, and in a twinkling sleigh and men went flying. + +"Surely we could face those two," gasped Joe, as if continuing the +sentence where circumstances had caused it to be so abruptly broken, +and at the same time picking himself up from the bank of snow into +which he had been thrown. "Here's fine cover. This ditch will hide us +completely." + +He threw himself down into the deep hollow at once, and found that he +had quite a high bank before him, over which he had to lift his head to +see the enemy. Hurley marked the occasion by firing at him, and his +bullet swished past within an inch, causing Joe to duck suddenly. As +for Hank, the sudden upset seemed to have caused him vast amusement, +and certainly he wasn't in the smallest degree hurt, though, being at +the rear of the sleigh, he had been thrown over the heads of his +comrades and had come down sprawling amongst the dogs. He picked up +himself and his weapon instantly and crept to Joe's side, still +grinning widely, while Beaver Jack, undisturbed by the upset, his +gravity of demeanour and his native dignity not in the least degree +ruffled, coolly turned the sleigh the right way up, dragged it +backward, and called hoarsely to the dogs to lie down. + +"We war jest meant to stop and have it out with them critters," said +Hank, when he had shaken the snow out of his eyes and mouth. "Gee! +that war a tumble. Lucky fer us there's soft snow. Ef it had been on +bare ice, there's some of us would have had cracked heads. Ha! Hurley +ha' thought better of coming along towards us. Guess this business is +gettin' a little more serious than he wanted. Yer see, he had jest +three at fust, three as didn't know he was following. Now he's got the +same three, and only one to help him agin them. You sit low, lad; +bullets has a way of striking jest when they ain't expected." + +His own head went down of a sudden, while a bullet buzzed above them. +Evidently it must have gone extremely near to the Redskin, who was then +crawling towards them, for Beaver Jack's impassive face broke into a +smile. His sensitive lips actually curled, those deep-set, penetrating +eyes twinkled, while his curious chin went up and seemed almost to +embrace the tip of the hooked nose. + +"None the wuss if you ain't hit, mate," laughed Hank. "Joe, how do yer +like bullets flyin' close beside you?" + +To look at our hero it was an experience which he enjoyed, for he was +smiling. But it was not because of the bullets. He was smiling at the +sudden change in their fortunes, at the complete success of the special +efforts which he and Hank had made, and at the thought that, instead of +being chased by Hurley now, they might well turn the tables on him. + +"We've a duty to do," he said so sharply, that the little hunter swung +round upon him. + +"Eh? Duty?" he asked. + +"Yes; there's a murderer, a criminal wanted by the law. Our duty is to +take him, so that he can do no more mischief." + +"In course," came the ready answer, "that's what we're going to do. +See here, Joe, I don't return to the settlements till we've got our man +or rubbed him out entirely. It's the same thing to me whichever +happens; only stop his game we will." + +"Right! I'm with you," cried Joe. + +"Then jest look spry and don't get standin' in the way of his rifle," +grunted Hank, as he peered cautiously at the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Back to the Farm + +The minutes which passed as Joe and his friends lay in the hollow into +which the upset of their sleigh had thrown them proved, as they rapidly +increased in number, that plans, however carefully made, do not always +become accomplished. It had been agreed between the little hunter and +our hero that it was their plain duty to capture Hurley; for was he not +an escaped criminal, a murderer, a brute who sought to slay them? But +try as they might to circumvent the rascal, he outwitted them. + +"It aer one of them tarnation difficulties that one don't realize till +one comes up agin them," said Hank after a while, for immediately on +their upset Hurley had caused his own team of dogs to be pulled up +short, and had himself taken advantage of a hollow. Hidden in it, he +bobbed up every now and again and sent a shot swishing over the little +party, while apparently the bullets fired by Joe and his friend had no +better effect. They were, in fact, merely wasting time. + +"Doing no harm, and just keeping us here till his men come up to join +him," ventured Joe. + +"Huh!" grunted the trapper. "But we'll see as they don't get quite up +to him, unless, of course, there's a hollow which will give them cover +all the way. Lad, this aer likely to get serious." + +"Then why not make a bolt for it?" asked Joe. "I don't mean run away +altogether," he added, as Hank flashed round upon him, "but make a rush +and draw him after us. If Beaver Jack steers so as to take us into +broken country, where there are patches of trees and undergrowth, we +could select a suitable place, stop suddenly, and then shoot as Hurley +came after us." + +Hank struck the butt of his rifle violently. "Ef that ain't a wheeze!" +he cried exultantly. "Ef he follows us--and it ain't dead sartin--but +ef he does, Beaver Jack'll manage the move for us easy. Let's see; +yes, there's trees 'way ahead--only to reach 'em we've got to run the +gauntlet." + +"Well? What matters?" asked Joe. "Better that than have all those +rascals close up to us and shooting." + +"We'll do it," exclaimed Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard this +proposition?" + +The Redskin hardly deigned to answer; instead, he swung his dogs round, +pulling them by means of the reins, till he had them lying in the +hollow itself. + +"Not do mount here," he said. "P'raps bullet hit us. But creep away +down there till we reach trees. Leave one here to fire now and again; +then, when all ready, jump on the sleigh and get away behind cover." + +He held out an attenuated hand, the fingers of which were as fine as +any lady's, and pointed to a patch of trees springing from the side of +the hollow a hundred or more yards away. The gesture and his words +were sufficient explanation of his meaning. If the sleigh were taken +there without its human load, and the feat could be accomplished +without Hurley seeing, then all could mount and start away before the +murderer had become aware of their intentions. + +"It aer a cute move, and we'll work it," said Hank instantly. "Now, +Joe, which of us'll stay; you or me?" + +"My place," came the ready answer. "I suggested going, therefore I do +the work which will help us to fool Hurley. I'll give him a shot now +and again." + +Hank at once slid down into the hollow and joined Beaver Jack. Joe +watched them as they sprawled on their faces, first placing their +weapons on the sleigh; then he saw them slowly move away, the Redskin +beside his team, crawling on all-fours, talking to the dogs and keeping +them well under cover. + +Crack! crack! Zip! zip! Two bullets swished overhead, the crisp +sounds they made proving that they had been aimed at Joe and not at his +comrades. At once he bobbed up, aimed for the place where he knew +Hurley was in hiding, and fired; but he saw nothing of the enemy. This +was a duel waged between contestants who kept beneath cover, and hoped +only for a lucky chance to hit an enemy. Joe waited again, and once +more the exchange of shots was repeated. Then he turned his head, to +find that Hank and Beaver Jack had reached the trees and were waiting +for him. + +"I'll give 'em one more," he told himself, raising his rifle, "and then +join the others. Hallo! What's this? One of Beaver Jack's pelts. +Suit my purpose admirably." + +Two shots rang out again in the distance, and Joe's followed swiftly. +Then he placed the dark-coloured skin on the top of the bank, and +within sight of the enemy, and at once sprawled on hands and knees and +crawled along the hollow. He accomplished the distance to the +rat-a-tat-tat of rifle shots, for Hurley and his comrade had found a +mark to aim at. Then he took his place on the sleigh, on which Hank +and Beaver Jack were already seated, and which they had hauled in +behind the cover of the trees. + +"Best get into position and comfortably settled afore we set out," said +the little hunter. "Gee! What a racket they're making! They ain't +spotted this business, I hope?" + +"Shooting at one of Beaver Jack's pelts," said Joe dryly. "He left it +behind. I thought he'd be able to spare it." + +"My, you'll do!" exclaimed Hank, laughing outright. "I've known young +chaps as could fight all right, but who were always mighty serious when +bullets war flying, and couldn't think of things like that. You'll do, +Joe. You aer got a sense of humour. Now, Beaver Jack, you get in at +it, and don't drive 'em too fast after the fust bust of speed. We aer +got to draw that Hurley cuss close up to us." + +Shouts of anger and disappointment greeted the party as they swung out +from behind the cover and into the open. Shots were fired in their +direction also. But Beaver Jack was a master of stratagem; he kept the +patch of cover that had already helped them so much between the sleigh +and the enemy, and Hurley, seeing that the men he desired to kill were +rapidly increasing their distance, rushed for his own sleigh, leaped +aboard, and bellowed to his driver to set the team in motion; and, +thanks to the lighter weight the pursuing sleigh bore, and in no small +degree to Beaver Jack's skill and cunning, Hurley slowly gained upon +the three men flying before him. He leaned upon his elbow, for he had +again adopted the position which Hank had first shown him, and, taking +a long and careful aim, sent a bullet flying after them. + +"Time we stopped!" cried Joe abruptly, gripping his elbow, for the +missile had struck him. Not that it was a severe wound--on the +contrary, it was little more than a graze--but even that causes pain +and rouses a man to exertion. Joe was determined to put up no longer +with Hurley's attempts upon his life and upon those of his comrades. + +"Let's stop this business right here and now," he cried hotly. +"There's a long patch of wood ahead; let's fix to pull in the team +there." + +"Good fer you, lad!" answered Hank. "Beaver Jack, you aer heard the +order? Now, Joe lad, listen to this. I has fust shot; ef I miss, +you're welcome to try; only I somehow feel as ef this war my special +business. Here we are; now fer it." + +Beaver Jack brought the team to a halt in masterly manner, while Joe +and the hunter rolled off the sleigh. Then Hank took post close to the +edge of the wood and just in the open. + +"I ain't the one to fire at a man without giving him a chance," he +said. "Ah! he's seen us; he's stopped. That was a near 'un!" + +There was a heavy thud as Hurley's bullet struck the tree beside the +hunter. Then up went Hank's weapon. He took a rapid sight, and then +flung down his rifle almost before the report had come to Joe's ears, +while the latter watched for the result of the shot with more than a +little anxiety. A little time before he would perhaps have wished +Hurley to escape injury, for Joe possessed a soft and forgiving heart. +Now, however, he had a different opinion as to his merits. It was, +therefore, with no great amount of sorrow that he saw the ruffian +suddenly throw up his arms and tumble over. + +"Wiped out clean," growled Hank. "Dead as a trapped beaver." + +There could be no doubt that that was the end of the murderer. Hank's +bullet had, in fact, killed Hurley instantaneously, and had thereby +provided a fitting punishment for the detestable crime he had +committed. As for Hurley's companion, the half-breed leaped on to the +sleigh which, like his master, he had abandoned for the moment, and +sending his whip cracking over the dogs, turned them in the opposite +direction and raced away for safety. + +"Not as he's got anything to fear from me," said Hank; "I aer done what +I promised. And now, young chap, guess there are something more for us +to look into--there aer that letter." + +It was uppermost in his mind as in our hero's, and it is not to be +wondered at that they boarded their sleigh and swung their team back +towards the dark figure lying prone in the snow behind them. But would +Hurley have the document still? Had he destroyed it? In fact, had he +ever had it, or was it possible that both Hank and Joe had conjured up +a conspiracy which had never existed? Supposing Hurley had merely +fallen upon their trace by accident, and then, learning that two of the +men who had previously helped to hound him down were of the party, had +endeavoured to slay them? + +Those were the fears and the questions which raced through their minds +as Beaver Jack sent the dogs straining across the snow towards the body +of their enemy. They found him lying face downwards, a crimson stain +spoiling the beautiful white of Nature's own making. + +"Search him," said Joe, turning his head away from such a gruesome +sight. "Search him, then let us go." + +"Got it! Huh! I said so, didn't I?" + +Hank's face was radiant. He held aloft a long envelope, stained with +much handling, and then, having run through all of Hurley's pockets, he +dragged the document from the envelope and coolly perused it. Joe +himself had now no qualms as to reading it also. + +"You are on the high road to 'making good'," said Hank. "There ain't +no reason now in waiting longer. Read! It aer as clear as daylight +that Hurley had made up his mind to wipe you out and then to make for +England with the idea of passing himself off as your father." + +When they were able to gather all the details, this, indeed, proved to +be the crux of the whole conspiracy, and the death of Hurley had alone +put an end to it. It is not for us to raise doubts here as to his +prospects. Doubtless there was many a slip which he might have made, +for criminals are ever careless; but matters were decidedly in his +favour. That receipt, still within the envelope, would obtain for him +all the proofs of Mr. Bradley's birth and life and parentage. The +signature, doubtless, he would learn to copy, while the very fact of +Joe's father having kept so much to himself would have made Hurley's +non-recognition at the Bradleys' old home of no moment. The weak +point, however, arrived when he expected residents in the little +provincial town where Joe had spent his early existence to recognize in +Hurley the cycle maker who they knew had died quite lately. + +"He'd have been had there," said Joe thoughtfully, "unless, of course, +he had declared that he never lived in England after he was twenty +years of age. Ah! that was his game; he had become a colonist. No +doubt he could have imported some scoundrel to swear to the fact that +Hurley was not known as Hurley at all, but as Bradley. However, +there's an end to the matter. Wonder what this uncle of mine's like? +Don't feel over-keen on writing to him." + +Circumstances saved Joe that necessity, for no sooner had he sent +information to the London solicitors who held the proofs which his +father had deposited, than he learned that his uncle was dead. He had, +in fact, survived Mr. Bradley but a few months. Thus Joe was the heir +to the property. + +"Let it go hang for the time being," he said, when he and Hank and the +Fennicks were discussing the matter together; for the trio had safely +returned to the settlement at the head of the valley in New Ontario. +"I've something far more interesting here, I can assure you." + +He said that with truth, too, for never was there a more fascinating +business than Sam Fennick had created. That spring, in fact, more than +twenty families joined him, shacks were run up rapidly by the +corporation into which they formed themselves, while machinery was +already arriving. Soon the workers were divided into parties, each +with their tasks assigned, and by seeding time not only had every +family a good roof over its head, but an extraordinary amount of ground +had been broken. + +There is little to add with regard to our hero. That winter which +followed he ran over to England, and then, having placed his affairs in +the hands of lawyers, and having let the property to which he had +proved his title, he returned to join his comrades. Up at the end of +that valley Peter Strike, and Hank, and many another are now located. +A railway draws its steel lines through the heart of the settlement, +while a school is already building. That is the way with Canada, red +tape has scarcely an existence; it is merely a bad memory imported from +the old country. Yes, there is a school building, while the telephone +is fitted to houses rapidly replacing the rough shacks. But that is +not all. Electric light is generated by water power at the foot of the +lake, while there is a lumber mill down south, and logs pay handsomely. +Motors buzz, too, out on the fields, and acres of soil are ripped open +and ploughed in as many hours as days were taken formerly with horse +tackle. Joe himself is rather proud of the potatoes he grows on his +holding, while he has hopes some day of beating all at the annual fruit +show in Toronto. You may ask with reason, perhaps, whether he ever +pines for London or a city. No, emphatically no! Joe is an open-air +man, a jovial, hard-working, contented fellow, who loves the wilds of +the Dominion, and who now and again sneaks off into the backwoods with +his old chum Hank. But business is his main consideration. His +purchases close to Peter Strike's old settlement have increased +enormously in value, while elsewhere he is making money. + +"Not as it matters much to a chap same as you," said Hank one night, +for he and Joe lived together; "you're rich without these here acres. +But guess it's not the dollars you're after; it's makin' good, eh, Joe? +Making good 'lows a man to be proud of hisself, and, jingo, it aer +worth doing!" + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Boy of the Dominion, by F. S. 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